BIFF 2011: POINT BLANK (À BOUT PORTANT) review

What makes a classic action flick? Is Fred Cavayé's Point Blank just another slick French thriller, or a Gallic Die Hard to be watched, re-watched and endlessly quoted? It's a hugely professional piece of work that rarely hits any bum notes, but its woman-in-peril plot has been done countless times already, most of the twists are obvious far ahead of time and its characters are largely stock types sketched in very broadly, if at all.

Still, it's one hell of an adrenalin rush, with a story that unfolds at a breathtaking pace (almost literally), some surprisingly winning little touches in the script and near flawless technical chops, in particular some dazzling editing. Five years from now, it might be forgotten - but here and now it's something any fan of the genre needs to see.

We cold open on a desperate foot chase, though precisely what's going on isn't revealed for some time. Sartet (Roschdy Zem) is fleeing dogged pursuit through the streets of Paris when he's hit by a car and ends up in hospital. Samuel (Gilles Lelouche), a student nurse, saves the comatose Sartet from attempted murder when one of the pursuers sneaks into the ward.

Yet it transpires Sartet's wanted for multiple offences, including the recent murder of a prominent businessman, and some very nasty people are none too pleased Samuel wouldn't let them silence him. After breaking into Samuel's home and abducting his heavily pregnant wife (Elena Anaya), the kidnappers charge him with getting Sartet out of the hospital and away from the police, or else he'll never see his wife again.

What follows is basically one long breakneck chase sequence as things go from bad to worse, like a popcorn riff on Soi Cheang's Love Battlefield with bits of Banlieue 13 thrown in, along with the macho banter from La Horde and nods to a long list of genre influences on top of that. There's crooked cops, an escape from a crumbling apartment block, an assault on a police station, hijinks in the Paris metro and more besides.

It seems obvious from fairly early on Cavayé's partly setting such a furious pace because set down on paper, the plot holds few if any real surprises. Every big reveal or set piece feels like a foregone conclusion, at least in retrospect, and the way the director finally explains that cold open with a great chunk of exposition suggests he's well aware of what kind of film he's making.

But Point Blank moves so fast it's almost impossible to resist. While there's some downtime while the story transitions from Sartet to Samuel, that's wrapped up fairly briskly, and from that point it's largely full steam ahead. Klaus Badelt's thundering score is every aural Hollywood meme rolled into one, and the shuddering hand-held camerawork echoes most trending action films of the past decade.

Yet where Banlieue 13 traded on a gimmick and Ultimatum succumbed to bloat, where La Horde wallowed in tasteless misogyny and Taxi collapsed under the weight of its sequels, Point Blank wastes barely any time on scene-setting or fleshing out its characters. Not to mention Cavayé and his crew are in fifth gear almost from start to finish.

While the action isn't especially complex, the speed and polish with which it's presented is a thing of gaudy beauty. On the face of it the chase sequence through the metro is predictable, but it's completely gripping nonetheless, with three or four plot threads driving it along. And the climax in the police station is a stunning piece of work, cutting back and forth between separate narrative strands like Inception's ending cranked up to 11.

Again, it's popcorn first and foremost, with precious little depth, but Cavayé throws in some pleasing little touches for the more discerning action junkie. When Samuel catches his breath after the metro chase then actually vomits from stress and sheer exhaustion it serves as a reminder of how long it's been since John McClane demonstrating human frailty was a big deal.

An ethnic lead who doesn't fall foul of action movie clichés is always a pleasure, and it's also slyly amusing seeing Cavayé handle other genre tropes so well - using a pregnant woman as a plot device recalls Tsui Hark's Time and Tide (another nod to Hong Kong directors). Not to mention the climax is very like Banlieue 13: Ultimatum done right, stripped of all pretence and possessed of dizzying tension.

None of which will convince people who don't like this kind of filmmaking, though. It is a fairground ride, where even if the car does make some truly terrifying jolts along the way the end is never wholly in doubt. Any moments of self-awareness raise a smile, but they also can't help but detract from proceedings in some way - as if they're more conceding this is 'just' an action movie, hence not that important, rather than helping you suspend your disbelief.

Still, shallow it may be, and it's difficult to predict whether it has any real staying power, but like Speed back in its day (before Jan de Bont outstayed his welcome) your first viewing is still likely to leave you physically shaken. Riveting, frenetic and consistently thrilling, with a cast and crew completely committed to the production, anyone with the slightest interest in dynamic, blockbuster action cinema is urged to check this one out.

(Point Blank (À Bout Portant) was shown as part of the 17th Bradford International Film Festival, which ran at the UK National Media Museum in Bradford from 16th-27th March 2011.)