Movie Reviews

Vincent (Reda Kateb) might be a champion at his local shooting range, but he doesn’t feel like a winner when it comes to his private life. His marriage to Delphine (Ludivine Sagnier) is falling apart, he’s trying to renovate a house he can’t afford and to top it all off, his father Armand (Tcheky Karyo) can’t take of himself anymore and has to move in. Oh, and Armand is not the most pleasant guy to be around.

But then the mysterious Renaud (Johan Heldenbergh) shows up and offers Vincent a way out. All he has to do is shoot a guy and all his financial troubles will disappear. He agrees without hesitation and instantly turns into a ruthless killer. If this doesn’t sound realistic, then that’s because it isn’t.

It takes director Fred Grivois about forty minutes to build up to the proposal, but the decision to kill is taken in the blink of an eye. From there on things get decidedly worse, before leading up to a completely underwhelming finale. And if anyone can tell me what that opening scene has to do with the rest of the movie, then I’d be happy to hear it. Also very annoying… Grivois aims for a film noir kinda vibe, but unfortunately takes it a bit too literally with a couple of scenes consisting of little more than a black screen.

Luckily the acting is more than decent, but even Kateb and Heldenbergh can’t salvage this movie, where the story seems to have run its course long before the credits start to roll.