AKA

I chanced upon this French crime-action-thriller on Netflix and was totally taken aback by the planning and execution of it's action scenes, though it is not a genre that I particularly enjoy.

Alban Lenoir, the co-writer & lead actor of the film looks ultra-skilled and effortless in both hand-to-hand combat and close range shooting scenes.

There is enough blood and gore in the movie, but still the movie appears realistic. Even though the body count is high, the act in itself is never glorified.

Amidst all the blazing guns and bullet wounds on his body, Alban Lenoir's Adam Franco, the protagonist turns out to be quite headstrong in protecting young children, which adds the required humanity angle to the film.

The story unfolds at a relatively slower rate, but it's never boring. Your 122 minutes are well taken care of.

AKA (2023 release from France; 118 min) brings the story of Adam Franco, an undercover special opps guy who is afraid of nothing or nobody. The French Minister of the Interior's chief of staff orders Franco to infiltrate a criminal gang in order to track down the whereabouts of a bombing suspect.... At this point we are less than 10 minutes into the movie.

Couple of comments: this is the feature length directing debut of Morgan Dalibert, previously a well-known cinematographer. Dalibert co-wrote the script along with Alban Lenoir, the erstwhile stunt man-turned-actor who plays the role of Adam Franco. These two know each other well, having collaborated on "Lost Bullet". Here they bring a gritty crime drama. I must admit that based on the film's opening sequence, I was expecting something more glamorous, but once the story really got goin, I found myself fully invested. Let me be very clear, tough: this is a very violent movie, and the body count is off the chart, so if that is not your thing, please find something else to watch. Eric Cantona alert! Yes, the French soccer star from the 1990s who played for Manchester United for 5 years, has continued to build a very nice acting career after retiring from football. Here he plays the head of the criminal gang, one of the pivotal roles in this film. Bottom line: my expectations were surpassed with this movie, and these 2 hours just flew by.

AKA started streaming on Netflix just last weekend, and I watched it last night. If you like a crime drama that is gritty and violent, yet that is also wildly entertaining with solid performances all around, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

What a nice action gem. The cinematography is fabolous. It's very much like Hard Boiled; Die Hard and all those big 1990's action movies rolled into one.

Alban Lenoir is a star! Such cinematic presence with chic style and gaelic flair! C'est bon! Wow. Eric Cantona can act as well. Some great lines from him.

The storyline is a nice twist and turn and not at all mundane like most cliche gangsta movies. It's refreshing and stylish with some magnificent direction.

Saïdou Camara does a great cool calm and collected job of Pee Wee. Philippe Résimont is also a class act. The scene of the heist is very much like John Woo's Hard Boiled and Michael Mann's Heat as well as Die Hard. The drugs' den takeout is very much stylised like Oldboy but with guns instead of a hammer.

It's a nice movie and something I can easily watch again. It's popcorn entertainment and another gem in the recent French cinema wave. Just keep them coming!

Morgan S. Dalibert your cinema reminds me of Jean-Pierre Melville! Super!

First the film is in French, so if you speak french or don't mind reading subtitles it's a solid choice.

It's kind of a Jason Bourne / Extraction type film, but done in a more realistic manner. Magazines aren't always magically full, the bad guys don't die from one shot while the good guys get shot 5 times and keep fighting, and while the hero is heroic, he's not completely impervious to the bad guys like a lot of action movies portray heroes.

Alban Lenoir does a great job being a badass and doesn't ruin the movie trying to look cool or have some stupid catch phrase that makes it cheesy. I definitely would watch another movie where he's the hero.

The action is really great, the sets are good, and you can stay immersed in the story pretty easily. The story is good and has a couple twists, but there's a couple of predictable times as well which was a little disappointing.

The fight scenes and shootouts are really good, the close quarter fighting is stellar but some of the long range shooting is not as good as it could have been. Hero not having enough cover, the missed shots causing little explosions, etc...

Overall a really solid action movie that won't disappoint you, If it were in English (I don't mean dubbed), I think more people would be talking about it.

AKA is a TV Movie, WTH???

Hollywood should take notes and learn a lot from this film. This is a low budget so the special effect is basic. The fight choreography is very simple but excellently executed, but I'll elaborate further in the next paragraph. Soundtrack didn't ruin the film.

The fight or action scene was surprisingly old school and excellently timed. The best things about the fight scenes are how effective and good the timings and movements were well planned and make sense as if it was directed by a martial artist coach for a marine or army.

The actors act good, the main character is a bit too stoic but he was supposed to have an air of mystery. And then the direction of the director was very enjoyable. Almost like music video but with a specific street wise style.

And in conclusion, this is one of the most enjoyable low budgeted action movie. The storyline might not win any award, but if you're looking for a good entertaining action movie, you'll like this.