Bronx

A very French cops and gangsters film set in Marseille. Nearly everyone's having an affair, smokes, drinks too much, turns a blind eye, breaks the rules, is corrupt or a corruptor. Well framed with some excellent shoot outs, some clever twists to keep you guessing, and a finale that I certainly didn't see coming. I almost hit the stop button as a twee French acoustic love song came on, a que for the end credits. It wasn't, don't stop, keep watching. Recommended but not an award winner, a solid 7.

I made some good attempts to finish this movie, when we insisted so much it probably indicates that it's not that good, although the action scenes (which I don't usually enjoy so much) are the best, like the initial shootout at the party, on the beach and the delivery of drugs and the final outcome, the deaths are the best, the film was reasonable, but as I have a crush on French cinema I forced myself to like this one... Confused, but usable... I liked it...

The good: beautiful cinematography, dark, gritty atmosphere contrasted with the sunny seaside environment. Gory, hardcore action scenes.

The bad: almost all characters are übermacho middle-aged men in dark clothing and no personality whatsoever. For me it made it impossible to follow the plot. At no point of the movie had I any idea who is who, who is shooting at whom and why, and generally what is happening. On the plus side at least I can't give you a spoiler.

The balance: if you are exceptionally good at keeping 30 French men's names in mind and linking them to nearly identical characters then maybe you will have a better time than I did. Otherwise don't bother.

A French police drama where all the cops seems to be corrupt, weaving a complicated web of double crosses, macho posturing and the odd action scene. The plot holds your interest, moving along at a good pace and although the ending's a bit odd, it fits in with the overall theme. Good acting and setting, but apart from the opening, is lacking in truly memorable characters or scenes.

Solid movie this, made with passion. One fails to empathize with the characters though as this area of the movie is somewhat under developed. With a little more finesse, this movie could have been another Pulp Fiction or Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Overall though, a great enjoyable movie in the French tradition.