*mild spoilers ahead*
Two cops (Daniel Auteuil & Gerard Depardieu) with a long standing personal rivalry tangle over a string of brutal bank robberies ..
Despite the quality cast & slick production values it pains me to say that '36' is another disappointingly lame thriller. The plotting is incoherent (at one point Depardieu triggers a firefight between cops & baddies in direct contravention of orders yet why he does so is never explained) & the writer/director has clearly used Michael Mann's 'Heat' as a template. As in that superior movie the film kicks off with an armoured truck robbery, there's an emphasis on the personal lives of the two protagonists (Daniel Auteuil even looks like Pacino) & there's a shootout with automatic weapons much like the one in Mann's film. But the movie doesn't work for several reasons.
First, the cops pursuit of the robbery gang is frustratingly sidelined about an hour in once Depardieu's character frames Auteuil's & gets him sent to prison. Great emphasis is then placed on Depardieu's efforts to ensure Auteuil's character stays there. Yet the cause of this hatred is never explained so we don't understand & therefore don't feel involved. Plus what's occurring on screen - such as Auteuil breaking out to meet his wife & daughter, the fallout amongst the other cops when they lose Auteuil as their boss - is just not that interesting compared to the pursuit of a ruthless gang specialising in armoured truck robberies.
Second, events become increasingly unlikely. At one point Depardieu has Auteuil's wife's car run off the road (why, when he has both ends of the road already blocked off?) with predictably tragic results. In the last half hour the armoured truck gang suddenly reemerge for no other reason than to give Depardieu's character the comeuppance he deserves.
There's a potentially good idea here but the execution feels all wrong. '36' gets uncomfortably stuck somewhere between the vicarious thrills of a modern Hollywood-style action movie & one of those miserabilist French exercises where everybody's having a bad time. Not only that but there's an amazingly intrusive use of incidental music. Whenever the filmmakers want to let you know that something emotional is happening the music hits you with all the subtlety of a brick in the face.
'36' is apparently due for a US remake which is ironic for two reasons. Firstly because the film already owes so much to 'Heat' & secondly because the star being lined up for the American version is none other than ... Robert DeNiro! Perhaps they can find a cameo for Al Pacino while they're at it.
Two cops (Daniel Auteuil & Gerard Depardieu) with a long standing personal rivalry tangle over a string of brutal bank robberies ..
Despite the quality cast & slick production values it pains me to say that '36' is another disappointingly lame thriller. The plotting is incoherent (at one point Depardieu triggers a firefight between cops & baddies in direct contravention of orders yet why he does so is never explained) & the writer/director has clearly used Michael Mann's 'Heat' as a template. As in that superior movie the film kicks off with an armoured truck robbery, there's an emphasis on the personal lives of the two protagonists (Daniel Auteuil even looks like Pacino) & there's a shootout with automatic weapons much like the one in Mann's film. But the movie doesn't work for several reasons.
First, the cops pursuit of the robbery gang is frustratingly sidelined about an hour in once Depardieu's character frames Auteuil's & gets him sent to prison. Great emphasis is then placed on Depardieu's efforts to ensure Auteuil's character stays there. Yet the cause of this hatred is never explained so we don't understand & therefore don't feel involved. Plus what's occurring on screen - such as Auteuil breaking out to meet his wife & daughter, the fallout amongst the other cops when they lose Auteuil as their boss - is just not that interesting compared to the pursuit of a ruthless gang specialising in armoured truck robberies.
Second, events become increasingly unlikely. At one point Depardieu has Auteuil's wife's car run off the road (why, when he has both ends of the road already blocked off?) with predictably tragic results. In the last half hour the armoured truck gang suddenly reemerge for no other reason than to give Depardieu's character the comeuppance he deserves.
There's a potentially good idea here but the execution feels all wrong. '36' gets uncomfortably stuck somewhere between the vicarious thrills of a modern Hollywood-style action movie & one of those miserabilist French exercises where everybody's having a bad time. Not only that but there's an amazingly intrusive use of incidental music. Whenever the filmmakers want to let you know that something emotional is happening the music hits you with all the subtlety of a brick in the face.
'36' is apparently due for a US remake which is ironic for two reasons. Firstly because the film already owes so much to 'Heat' & secondly because the star being lined up for the American version is none other than ... Robert DeNiro! Perhaps they can find a cameo for Al Pacino while they're at it.