So for me it took a while to write this review as I had to have some time to become more objective. This movie was the realisation of a fantasy that I had while watching a documentary on human trafficking a couple of years back – made me really really angry. So already this movie had a one-up. As I was walking out of the cinema I overheard some girls comments such as “well it’s only a movie” and “that doesn’t happen in Paris, I was in Paris at 17″ etc. which made it quite obvious that my impression of the movie was very different to theirs.
Putting the bias aside, the movie does have a formulaic and unsurprising plot but it ratifies it in such a way as it feels like an old-school action flick: make some popcorn and cheer the crunch of bones! Though I did roll my eyes at points where the usual baddies-at-point-blank-range-can’t-hit-squat-with-automatic-weapons schinanigans one finds rampant in these sorts of films. At least there weren’t too many of them; oh and pillows are armour plated now.
Now about my bias: I was satisfied quite quickly in the movie (after the obvious kidnapping) and the rampage basically continues non-stop from there. There are also some great I’ma-f*&k-you-up moments throughout the film and the grittiness and sets seemed believable. The downside is there are some retarded moments as well; the sort of retarded character-moments you find in action films when family interrelationships enter the script.
All-in-all it is very much like a movie-maker saw the same documentary as me and made a film to quench the burning desire for blood after it.
