Overdose

This kind of product contains a set of ingredients that we find in all films of this genre, precisely. You need cars and motorcycles, with crumpled canvas and chases. You need a more or less intense police war, in this case less so, as the different police forces communicate: Spanish, French, Parisian, provincial, special units. You need weapons. It needs villains, thugs, who when they appear shout it (hairstyles, costumes, make-up). It needs gore and extreme violence, here unnecessary (the hammer) and off behind a wooden door (good idea). It needs sex, which is totally unnecessary here. And a romantic story between police officers. All this is conventional and unoriginal. But it's well tied together by a script that integrates these ingredients.

Olivier Marchal deserves credit for his talent in directing the actors, all of whom are excellent. The film is perhaps a little long (20 minutes too long) and could have been tightened up a little. But on the whole, it lives up to its brief. A nominal quality in a conventional package for the genre to which it belongs.

I unfortunately guess that the director of 36, QUAI DES ORFEVRES, MR 73 and LES LYONNAIS has lost his soul, because in this movie, and also the four previous ones, are far from being as emitionally powerful as the three first; I won't mention GANGSTERS, very first film from OM. OVERDOSE is only a very efficient crime drama, very well done, in terms of directing, editing, and acting, even without any great bankable movie stars, such as for instance Jean Dujardin or Gilles Lelouche. But the actors here are perfectly cast, pretty good figures, faces, for such a story. But not great stars, that's all, as was also OM previous feature : BRONX. And notice that Marchal has also the taste to hire female old timers: here Catherine Allegret; in BRONX, Claudia Cardinale; in 36, Mylène Demongeot.... There is no real lead character here, many supporting ones, a very convincing Nicolas Cazalé, the French actor with Antonio Banderas' eyes, who had never worked with OM before. Some gruesome torture scenes, not for the squeamish. I am sure that Olivier Marchal will always make crime films, very good ones, but without the awesome atmosphere he had in 36, MR 73 and LES LYONNAIS. Maybe because he will never have great movie stars any more...Anyway, I am surprised that Gaumont company, the oldest and most famous in French movie industry, still produces his movies. I hope it will continue though. He seems to have lost all his ambitions here.

Over the time Olivier Marchal created his own sub genre of gritty French movies and some of them could be treated as niche classic. The formula of success was quite simple: down to Earth cops who often forced to work with the criminals in one way or another to stop the bigger evil, dark story, complete disregards for happy endings and visually dark cinematography. You can find sun in some of his movies, but it always feels like a dark cloud forms above the character on the screen even if action is set in Nice or Marseille.

Sadly, this one is never going to be one of his best films, neither will it be even close to pieces like MR 73 or 36 Precinct. First of all, story. It feels like the script was made from some leftovers and it lacks common sense. Criminals could be stupid, but organized crime, the focus of this movie, usually is not. Their complete disregard of operational security, useless violence, reckless behavior are only serving as reasons to provide the viewer with dramatic, clip-like scenes of fast cars and automatic weapons in action. While some action scenes are quite decent, the story feels nonexistent and the script feels incoherent to the point of discomfort and total disbelief. I will not spoil the story, but it is as unrealistic as it even could be and any Marchal fan will spot it after first 10-20 minutes of runtime.

If you are in the market for a good French action, check out Stronghold (2020), Les Miserables (2019) or Athena (2022): all of them are doing better what Marchal have started while maintaining a good, believable story.

The only reason Overdose exists is to make cash to its creators and you can do much better with your time.

I love to watch a good French crime movie. The French are really at good at making them. Unfortunately this Netflix movie is just going through the motions...

The bad: this is just another, cheaply produced Netflix formula crime movie.

It has ONLY got (way below) average actors starring in it. And that is a problem, because there are LOTS of TEDIOUS talking scenes, in which these (way below) average actors have to try and elevate this story to a suspensful level.

And that is the other problem with this movie. It is definitely LACKING in suspense and thrill. Not even the (few) action scenes are any good.

Bummer. Just another (failed) formula crime movie. Incredibly tedious watch...

Whilst French cinema likes to tend to the philosophical, French action films are often well watchable and underrated.

Overdose is well written, acted, directed and edited, and provides a satisfying drama. The villains are villainous, and the cops determined, and although this is only going to end one way, the turns along the way keep you entertained.

In places, it is not an easy watch (I said the villains are villainous), and there is little relief from the relentless focus of both sides. There is a little bit of sex, but it is not very sexy, rather unlike a French film in that respect.

The pacing of the film is enjoyable, through the borderlands between France and Spain, and the camerawork is hard to fault.

Definitely worth a watch if you like action crime drama.