Antigang (2015) Reviews

• Straight forward action flick

  Bantam2016-01-26

  This one is a straight forward, no-frills action flick. No twists, no turns. The cast is decent and the story is plausible without being too cliché laden. Nonetheless, for European audiences some of the action (and subsequently its impact on the "environment" and the consequences for the cops) might seem over-the-top. But we've learned to live with the fact, that "action cops" can blow up a building, to get a pickpocket. And it just earns them 3 weeks behind the desk. Most of the dialogue is okay, some exchanges are even funny, without being silly. But it's not a Lethal Weapon/Die Hard kinda thing. Directing goes okay even though some of the action sequences are a tiny bit hectic- the cuts made during editing look a bit like they were made on purpose to emphasize the intense exchange of gunfire. IMO here less would have been more. It would be more en par with the rest of the movie. But in general the overall pace is okay. As mentioned, the story is a no-frills crime/thriller which is suitable for a decent action flick. Do not expect too much from it, though. Unfortunately Jean Reno has gotten old. You can tell by the way he moves in several shots- also, when the action kicks in he is "magically" more agile, thanks to stunt people. But he still does well as an aging cop. I just do not like the full beard he is sporting in this one. To sum it up, it's a decent French action flick, liberally borrowing from American action cinema in terms of craftsmanship.

• What ever happened to Benjamin Rocher

  searchanddestroy-12015-08-22

  I can't believe it. How can anyone may find this crime action flick worth? How? What a deception for me. After I watched the trailer, I expected the worst, I expected a pure comedy like LETHAL WEAPON, but it is not. You have here some comedy lines but that's all. The main problem is else where. Everything here is predictable, dull, a total mess. Benjamin Rocher gave us several years ago a short film called RIVOUALEN which was a true masterpiece, and after he made LA HORDE, a very exciting horror film too. And I don't understand why he made this juicy straight to garbage can crap. When I go to see a crime flick speaking of Sweeney and bank robbers, I expect a brutal, bloody, crepuscular, dark, bleak feature, as JP Melville did 40 years ago, or Olivier Marchal gives us since 15 years now. I don't expect such a crap. What's happened to Benjamin Rocher? The scene where Jean Reno is hit by a car, thrown in the air and then gets away with only a scratch on his forehead, I realize how deep in s... this movie dove. Run away from it !!!

• Better than the original

  Leofwine_draca2016-12-21

  As the title would suggest, THE SWEENEY: Paris is a straightforward remake of the British crime film THE SWEENEY, starring Ray Winstone. I didn't like the British version because of the direction by Nick Love, which I thought was entirely lacklustre. The good news is that THE SWEENEY: Paris is much better, with a tighter script and much better-directed action scenes. The story is nothing new and merely involves the usual cops and robbers stuff, with three big set-pieces dotted amid the story. Said set-pieces are gloriously violent, with massive shoot-outs on the scale of HEAT and some aggressive hand-to-hand combat thrown into the mix too. It's definitely a film for those of us who enjoy watching bad guys getting their heads smashed in with baseball bats. The lead role is taken by the aged-but-still-got-it Jean Reno, who is a delight and much better than Winstone was. Reno is well supported by an engaging cast that includes a nice role for Caterina Murino, once a Bond girl and still deeply attractive after the passage of years. The other characters seem to have better depth than usual for the genre too. THE SWEENEY: Paris has the edge over the last French action thriller I watched, RABID DOGS.

• Worthless!

  gogettheroach2019-03-08

  I expected better. The squad feels like an unpicked TV pilot that was made for greedy reasons. Jean Reno used to be good. Now he's no better than Steven Seagal. Even the action scenes sucked!

• The french Sweeney

  kosmasp2016-02-01

  If you watch this and you have a Deja Vu (how french of me), than you're onto something. This is a remake of the British movie "Sweeney". It's not point for point and it takes certain liberties (it's shorter for that matter than the original), but it does have a lot of moments too. The relationship between the Reno character and three other characters in this are nicely drawn out. Not as fine as those that are shown in the British original. But the charming nature of the cast at hand here and the well shot action scenes, really give it a lift. The important parts have been transfered to this french version, but as said this is a smaller affair (no pun intended). If you've seen the Original you might therefor feel a bit cheated upon ... not unlike someone in this movie!