I will try to keep this so-called "review" as brief as possible, as it is more of an expression of an opinion more than anything else.
After my wife and I had watched the USA remake with Jamie Fox, a film I reviewed not long ago and which essentially fell flat due to it's very generic and formulaic production (maybe due to studio/Producer interférences, who knows), we decided to hunt down the french original as we were curious to witness the original which unfortunately spawned such a forgettable american remake.
"Night Blanche" doesn't break new grounds in either storytelling, editing, pacing, cinematography or such, but it does offer up that euro feel which no american/north american production can duplicate. By standing on it's own and quickly presenting characters who are set-up and defined quite rapidly, the story can then advance at a good pace and the tension / suspence can develop without much hesitation. SPOILER HERE: contrary to the US "Sleepless" remake, the baddies are all very well established quite early on, and we don't go through characterization hoops just to keep the audience guessing for sheer guessing's sake.
Although there is no frenetic suspence which get unbearable, the fact remains that bad goes to worse and then some, the so-called "good" guys forced to do less-than-nice actions, and the lines between good and bad are blurred, although the good and evil still remains quite established.
Characters may be under-developped but they are explored enough to get the story going, and no one really feels as though they've been pushed onto the screen for eye candy or a generic plot-servicing device. It is also interesting that some characters take quite a long time to be brought center stage or even utter a single word, as the visual narrative seems to take care of of the how and where things happen in the sequence they do.
All in all this is far from an american guns blazing production but has it's fair share of guns and violence, which rivals any US product without the over-use of CGI or car chases, although folks not used to the french / euro cinema may find the rhythm of the movie, as well as how characters are developped, a bit unsatisfactory, even if this remains a very solid action thriller in the purest sense.
I would recommend it any day over the US remake for sure - it's worth it!
After my wife and I had watched the USA remake with Jamie Fox, a film I reviewed not long ago and which essentially fell flat due to it's very generic and formulaic production (maybe due to studio/Producer interférences, who knows), we decided to hunt down the french original as we were curious to witness the original which unfortunately spawned such a forgettable american remake.
"Night Blanche" doesn't break new grounds in either storytelling, editing, pacing, cinematography or such, but it does offer up that euro feel which no american/north american production can duplicate. By standing on it's own and quickly presenting characters who are set-up and defined quite rapidly, the story can then advance at a good pace and the tension / suspence can develop without much hesitation. SPOILER HERE: contrary to the US "Sleepless" remake, the baddies are all very well established quite early on, and we don't go through characterization hoops just to keep the audience guessing for sheer guessing's sake.
Although there is no frenetic suspence which get unbearable, the fact remains that bad goes to worse and then some, the so-called "good" guys forced to do less-than-nice actions, and the lines between good and bad are blurred, although the good and evil still remains quite established.
Characters may be under-developped but they are explored enough to get the story going, and no one really feels as though they've been pushed onto the screen for eye candy or a generic plot-servicing device. It is also interesting that some characters take quite a long time to be brought center stage or even utter a single word, as the visual narrative seems to take care of of the how and where things happen in the sequence they do.
All in all this is far from an american guns blazing production but has it's fair share of guns and violence, which rivals any US product without the over-use of CGI or car chases, although folks not used to the french / euro cinema may find the rhythm of the movie, as well as how characters are developped, a bit unsatisfactory, even if this remains a very solid action thriller in the purest sense.
I would recommend it any day over the US remake for sure - it's worth it!