Ladronas

Several terrific female empowered action movies have been made lately, but this is not one of them. Bummer.

The bad: comedy is personal, but I didnt laugh once and this is supposed to be a comedy. The supposedly witty dialogues were run of the mill and became kinda annoying after a while because the two leading actresses constantly chatter with each other about trivial things, which supposedly is meant to be funny, but became a tedious gimmick... sigh...

More bad: IF only the action part would have been okay, then I wouldnt have minded that the jokes werent anything special. But even the very few action scenes are totally bland and unimpressive.

They dressed up a chick flick as an action/comedy, but what a failure it is.

Too bad, because these actresses are really wonderful performers whom I like to watch in many other French movies, but they couldnt save this movie from turning out to be quite bland and uneventful and tedious. I fault the direction and the writing.

As a filmmaker, Mélanie Laurent has made some fine dramas throughout the 2010s. Her foray into Netflix's doomed action-comedy genre yields mixed results. While it portrays the "female friendship" aspect in a way that puts the recent Charlie's Angels film to shame, it struggles to build tension within the set-pieces and concludes in a super-dodgy way. The star performer here undoubtedly is Adèle Exarchopoulos who fully embraces the role of Alex - a sniper with a vulnerable side. Her equation with Caroline (Laurent) is wonderful to watch, and the ladies sure seem to be having fun. Oh, there are bloopers during the closing credits!

The plot just goes through the motions, and the laughs are occasional. Even the addition of a third member (Manon Bresch) doesn't really elevate the stakes. The main antagonist - Godmother, played by Isabelle Adjani - and her relationship with Caroline is only elucidated over a few lines, making it difficult to connect with her "reasons". Of course, then there's Netflixisation of everything - the action comes to sudden halts, some sections deliberately look like song montages, and the story never really comes full circle. That ending is such a cop-out, and that made me reduce ½ a star.

Aside from the picturesque landscapes and great choices of film/background score, all in all this is a fun movie to watch with not much violence and gore. Boosting with female power, charisma, humor, loyalty and friendship, the bond and chemistry between Alex and Caroule were greatly portrayed that I wish I can be the Sam in their lives. The script and witty comeback exchanges between the characters were also funny and relatable. Watching this will make you want to have what they have. Though there were some plotholes, the movie did not veer off from it's story. And yes, I did shed a tear at the ending.

I came to this movie with no expectations. I knew I'd seen Melanie Laurent before, but couldn't remember where from. I didn't watch the trailer, all I had was the two sentence description on Netflix. Going in cold, I have to say, I really enjoyed this.

Movies depend on forgiveness. Plots are never perfect; there is always something that the audience has to agree to ignore. Characters, accents, real life details... the audience has to put those aside to enjoy the movie. In some ways, movies have an "enjoyment ATM card". If it stars your favourite actor, your card starts with a positive balance. Favourite director, same thing. Hopefully, we click "play" with some degree of goodwill built into the process, giving a starting positive balance of some amount.

Then the movie starts, and as you are watching, things either increase the balance on your card, or decreases it. Hopefully, you finish the film with a positive balance. But the slips in the movie will eat away at your balance to the point that, if there are too many of them, you finish the movie with negative enjoyment. Sometimes, a movie is so bad that you exceed your credit limit before it ends, and you stop watching. (I'm looking at you, Michael Bay.)

In this case, the storyline is a little bit lightweight, and they make a few wrong turns in telling the story. These mishaps will leave a definite negative entry on your enjoyment balance sheet. Depending on how much you have enjoyed the movie to that point, you may end up with a negative balance.

For me, there were enough positives in the movie that, when the plot holes showed up, I had enough on my card to forgive them for their screenwriting sins and keep the balance in black.

Among the positives, the acting was superb, and in particular the actress playing Alex was a real delight. Isabelle Adjani makes an impact in a small role, and if you don't know her age, you might be shocked to find out what it actually is.

Visually, it's a beautiful film to watch. The locations are spectacular, and the action scenes are very well choreographed. Throughout the film there is a frequent change of the colour palette as it moves from sequence to sequence, much in the way that Kill Bill vol. 1 did in a more exaggerated manner. The movement from a beige base to the blue of the ocean, back to beige, to the green of the forest, to the coldness of the forest at night, back to beige, then to the red in a private screening room.... It's another way that the movie continues to engage with the viewer and contribute positively to the experience.

There is a wonderful action sequence involving Alex that really has no business being in the movie from a storytelling perspective. But it was done so creatively that, for me, it added to the enjoyment rather than detracted from it. Later on, there's another sequence which begins with the majestic line (en anglais) "We're taking a ferry to Italy tonight. We're going to get revenge for my bunny." Again, from a storytelling perspective it could have been shorter. Given its place in the timing of the movie - at the 70% mark - one might hope that they would speed things up a bit to get to the end. But the scene is executed (ha ha) so beautifully that again, it's a positive not a negative for me. However, they did go to the style well a few too many times. There is a sequence in the last act where Caroline unexpectedly has a conversation with someone while she's doing something. It's cute, but that is one of several cuts that probably should have been made to the film. It takes far too much at that point of the movie that the overall pacing is hurt.

Lawyers have a saying: "When the facts are against you, argue the law. When the law is against you, argue the facts. When both are against you, just argue." That is kind of what we have here. Melanie Laurent had a script that was against her. What she did was to concentrate as much as she could on what we see on the screen to make it a positive experience. I think she succeeded, and I hope she gets the opportunity to direct many more movies for years to come. But with better scripts.

Carole and Alex are a pair of thieves. They decide that it is time to retire but their employer, 'The Godmother' has other ideas and pressures them into taking 'one last job'. They are to steal a painting from and exhibition on Corsica. Before they can do the job they must recruit a driver, Sam. Sam will also need to be taught how to shoot before they are ready to do the job. Inevitably there will be complications.

If you go into this expecting full on action you are likely to be disappointed. However if you are happy with some action, some laughs and what is essentially a female buddy movie there is a lot to enjoy. The opening set piece sets the tone nicely with exciting action and some humour. We then get some solid character development as Carole and Alex team up with Sam and meet other associates. Finally we get the heist and a conclusion with a twist. The action is nicely varies with Carole and Alex fleeing armed drones on a quad-bike; Alex and Sam racing through narrow streets and paths on a motorbike; plenty of shooting and even Alex in hand to hand combat with a naked assassin! The film isn't particularly violent; a fair number of bad guys get shot but our protagonists prefer to use tranquiliser darts against non-criminals. This action takes place in an interesting variety of setting; mostly on Corsica. The cast does a good job; most obviously Mélanie Laurent as Carole; Adèle Exarchopoulos as Alex and Manon Bresch as Sam. Mélanie Lauren also did an impressive job as the film's director. Overall a fun film for those looking for a crime drama that doesn't take itself too seriously.

These comments are based on watching the film in French with English subtitles.