Film Review: French ‘Point Blank’ is Streamlined, Effective Thriller

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HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 3.5/5.0
Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Fred Cavaye follows his international hit “Anything For Her” (remade here as the Russell Crowe vehicle “The Next Three Days”) with another sure-to-be-remade action thriller yet again about an unlucky man going to whatever ends required to save the love of his life. With crackerjack pacing and a driven, no-frills script that brings the whole thing to a lean close in under 80 minutes (sans credits), “Point Blank” is an adrenalin-driven shot to the arthouse scene. It may be ultimately too inconsequential and a bit too manipulative to be considered great, but it’s still pretty damn enjoyable.

A man (the great, always-scowling Roschdy Zem, recently seen in the Oscar-nominated “Outside the Law”) is running from two armed assailants. He is hit by a motorcycle and the pair trying to kill him skulks away in the ensuing chaos. The man is taken to a hospital in which a nurse named Samuel (Gilles Lellouche) works the night shift. Samuel stops another attempt on the life of the man, who we learn is a career criminal named Sartet. When he gets home to his very-pregnant wife Nadia (Elena Anaya), he is hit over the head and she is kidnapped. Samuel must get Sartet out of the hospital and away from the police or his wife and unborn child will die. On the run from both corrupt cops and those who think Samuel & Sartet are guilty, the pair has limited time to clear their name and save Nadia.

StarRead Brian Tallerico’s full review of “Point Blank” in our reviews section.

I must admit to being a little put-off by watching a pregnant woman abused and nearly thrown out of a window. It feels unnecessarily manipulative. We would have cared about the plight of Samuel and Nadia without the pregnancy, which is even further amplified by an early scene in which the pair is told that she should be on bed rest or risk losing the baby. Lellouche and Anaya are talented enough actors to sell their Hitchcockian plight (people caught in the very wrong place at the wrong time) without the uncomfortable added addition of the pregnancy.

Manipulation aside, “Point Blank” is an undeniably well-designed and well-executed chase film. In a season so-often dominated by bloated blockbusters, it’s impressive to see something this focused and streamlined. Cavaye proves adept at telling a relatively-complex story about betrayal and corruption but does so on the run, never weighing the piece down in unnecessary exposition. There are a number of thriller directors who could learn a thing or two about cutting
the fat from Cavaye. There’s nothing “fat” about “Point Blank.”

StarContinue reading for Brian Tallerico’s full “Point Blank” review.

“Point Blank” stars Gilles Lellouche, Roschdy Zem, and Elena Anaya. It was directed by Fred Cavaye. It opens in Chicago on August 12th, 2011.

Point Blank
Point Blank
Photo credit: Magnolia Pictures

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