DVD review: 22 Bullets
by Suzan Ryan , under Reviews
22 Bullets
Director: Richard Berry
Stars: Jean Reno, Daniel Lundh, Kad Merad, Marina Foïs, Jean-Pierre Darroussin
Roadshow Films
One only has to look as far as Léon/The Professional, Mission Impossible or Ronin to see that Jean Reno, the inimitable French actor, has sufficient onscreen presence to help carry a film. However, 22 Bullets relies more on the actor’s gravitas than on delivering an original plot.
22 Bullets tells the story of retired mobster Charly Matteï (Reno) who is dragged back into the grizzly underbelly of organised crime after surviving a murder attempt by way of a ski-mask-wearing firing squad. As he recovers from the attack, Charly implores his three remaining friends to find out who’s behind the hit.
Charly’s pals round up a low-level thug who has enough information to coax Charly out of his hospital bed for a round of atypical warehouse “questioning”. The type where you get tied to a chair. And beaten. Charly takes a surprisingly compassionate approach with the thug and, against the advice of his posse, cuts him loose after he spills the beans on who ordered the hit. Anyone familiar with this type of storyline won’t be overly surprised by the early reveal of who wants Charly six-feet under.
As much as romanticised narrative notions may want us to believe that there is honour among thieves, there isn’t any in this film. Charly’s decision to release the whistle-blowing thug is met with a close-to-home reprisal that pushes Charly into battle-stations mode and it’s not long before he dons his chef’s hat to serve up a dish cold.
As would be expected from a film with the tag line, ‘From the producer of Taken’, the action sequences in this film work particularly well. There are also some genuinely compelling interactions between Charly and his victims, particularly when he takes the time to talk to them before exacting his revenge. The main problems come via the rest of the film, with convoluted family drama that’s both unnecessary and frustrating as the respective family member’s issues pale in comparison to the overall drama of warring families.
Because of the interwoven family drama 22 Bullets slowed at times, which jars because this is a high-energy film that, given the context of the plot, felt 20-minutes too long by the time the credits rolled on the ending. This film certainly had potential from the outset; it’s just a shame that the more interesting over-arching storyline got lost in the subplots of secondary characters that really weren’t all that interesting. For fans of shoot-em-ups, however, this will certainly sate the appetite.
Review: Nathan Lawrence
22 Bullets is available on DVD/Blu-ray May 19, 2011
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