That's how Jonathan Ross describes this French subtitled movie, when he introduced it when it was shown on the satellite French movie channel, Cinemoi.
The now almost famous (to us Brits) Vincent Cassel, playing 'Brisseau' and his wife, Barbara, or Lisa, (Monica Belucci) are the couple in question and are part of ring of agents, totally professional, taking great care to meticulously plan everything. They don't ask questions. Maybe they should...
Out in Angola, is a bloody civil war and that requires guns, lots of them. A Russian arms dealer, trading from Switzerland is going to send a ship-load of weapons out there. The Secret Agents are set the task of going out to Morocco and sabotaging this sailing by planting explosives on the vessel and blowing it up.
So, that's the premise, interesting and realistic and to do just that would be far too straightforward, right?
The movie moves along quite quickly, shot in old style, i.e. steady cameras instead of wobbly, jarring ones. But there is excitement too, with well-shot stunts, especially car chases (French thrillers always do them well) and moody mellower moments. It's humourless and efficient and we aren't asked to like, or approve of the protagonists or what they do. It gets sufficiently complex to be satisfying, it's well acted and about the right length.
It's a good thriller, but somehow not a great one. It needs an extra something, though what this is difficult to pinpoint. It doesn't quite reach 7/10, for me, but is very close. Whether it's worth buying as a DVD and at the present cost, is a different matter. But rented or on Cinemoi, then it's a great choice for a mid-week action movie.
The now almost famous (to us Brits) Vincent Cassel, playing 'Brisseau' and his wife, Barbara, or Lisa, (Monica Belucci) are the couple in question and are part of ring of agents, totally professional, taking great care to meticulously plan everything. They don't ask questions. Maybe they should...
Out in Angola, is a bloody civil war and that requires guns, lots of them. A Russian arms dealer, trading from Switzerland is going to send a ship-load of weapons out there. The Secret Agents are set the task of going out to Morocco and sabotaging this sailing by planting explosives on the vessel and blowing it up.
So, that's the premise, interesting and realistic and to do just that would be far too straightforward, right?
The movie moves along quite quickly, shot in old style, i.e. steady cameras instead of wobbly, jarring ones. But there is excitement too, with well-shot stunts, especially car chases (French thrillers always do them well) and moody mellower moments. It's humourless and efficient and we aren't asked to like, or approve of the protagonists or what they do. It gets sufficiently complex to be satisfying, it's well acted and about the right length.
It's a good thriller, but somehow not a great one. It needs an extra something, though what this is difficult to pinpoint. It doesn't quite reach 7/10, for me, but is very close. Whether it's worth buying as a DVD and at the present cost, is a different matter. But rented or on Cinemoi, then it's a great choice for a mid-week action movie.