22 Bullets
Director: Richard Berry
Starring: Jean Reno, Marina Foïs, Kad Merad
Forget Paris. When it comes to cinema's Gallic gangsters, the French port of Marseille has always been a hive of villainy - from Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo's charismatic 1930s thugs in Borsalino to the drug-dealers in French Connection II.
Films: The National watches
Last Updated: 20 June, 2011 UAE
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Now we can add another, Charly Matteï (Reno) – though, like all criminals with half a brain, he's taken early retirement to enjoy family life. Things change, however, when he remarkably lives through a car park-staged attempt on his life, surviving the slugs of the title (little wonder the French title translates as "The Immortal"). Out for revenge, and up against some old friends and foes, on his case is a female police officer (Foïs) determined to stop his vendetta. But as the story unfolds, the clichés start to stack up like empty shell-casings. Like Reno's previous crime genre forays (from Luc Besson's Léon to John Frankenheimer's Ronin), there's no denying 22 Bullets has style and swagger. Some scenes - from the opening hit to Charly entangled in a mesh of barbed wire – are memorably staged, while Reno portrays his man with his usual gruff charm. In his fourth film, Berry (who also plays a rival gangster in the film) directs briskly, while the script gives Reno the odd moment of comic whimsy. But, despite this hailing from a true story, neither Berry nor Reno can truly elevate it beyond being a visceral potboiler, pure and simple. Those seeking an undemanding night out should apply.
