Saloum

This was an unexpected treat, right from the get-go. This fast paced 84 minutes of genre-bending excellent display of filmmaking by Jean Luc Herbulot succeeds in elevating the story-telling experience in a Tarantino fashion, but within the west African beautiful landscapes and with the most colorful characters you can expect to see on the big screen. All casting and performances were excellent. The cinematography, score and visual effects were captivating. My only issues were some of the dialogue that didn't make sense to me, and some rookie-filmmaker plot and technical issues. I feel this film needed another 10-15 minutes added to the screenplay for better cohesion and clarity between the first and final act. Nevertheless, it's a great film I'll be watching at least one more time. Can't wait to see what this filmmaker gives us next. A well deserved 8/10 from me.

Western parallels abound, but this African tale spins around, up and down, starting off as a thrill, then it goes through a mill, becomes a kind of homecoming, next a need to start running, as the locals start spinning, and the demons start swinging, there's a price to paid, to the lost and betrayed.

Several films for the price of one, encased in a multitude of genres, with some spectacularly good effects, exceptional performances, both mysterious and puzzling, brutal and violent, with plenty of opportunity to wonder what on earth is going on, and why. If you're not familiar with West African cinema, I'm not sure this will bring you any closer to it.

I was lucky enough to see this in a local theater, and it was an absolutely fantastic movie experience. It's full of action and sad and unexpectedly funny when it needs to be. This movie experiments and goes in surprising directions and it's just a fantastic time. I highly recommend this one.

The lead actor in this is also just absolutely fantastic. He's an action hero throughout, but the actor really digs into the sadness and darker sides of this character. There's a rich interior life to the main character here, and I commend the actor for bringing so much to this film.

This movie is also beautiful stylistically, there's some inventive design and completely stunning shots. This movie is just fantastic all around.

A journey of vengeance through scenic waterways and hollow deserts, praising the well-deserved beauty of African continent. Unique trio of characters forming up the Bangui Hyaenas. A crisp performance by the cast showcasing maturity. Story manages to excellently build up the suspense until it all blows over. Satisfactory use of special effects. It's the birdbox's concept but with a twist, For this reason it may lack originality but the same was taken care of the final freedom of youngsters. When all technicalities are set aside what's most thought provoking is the mental trauma of a survivor and how the unlucky gets swallowed so the dinner table showdown is a hard critique to all negligences of children's care taking.

I was intrigued at the start of this film as a group of men escape civil strife while transporting a Mexican drug dealer in a small plane which must make an emergency landing in a field. They bury a load of gold there and continue on to a remote village.

Nothing is as it seems at the village as ghosts from the leaders past return.

It then becomes a confusing mess as the group encounters some strange attacking creatures who look like swarms of bees who can be dispatched with either guns or knives. A new kind of zombie apocalypse, I guess.

The cast is much better than the script and story. The scenery is good but in the end I was not impressed.