22 Bullets (L'Immortel)

Right here's a little test for you name some mainstream French actors... Quickly... Stumped?  Me too, and if you're anything like me you probably only got two; Gerard Depardieu and Jean Reno, both of which have amazing noses which are worthy of skiing on.  This review will focus on a recent Reno film, 22 Bullets... Or L'Immortel if we're being posh.

Reno plays Mattei, a retired Mafia Godfather who has taken to the simple life of caring for his wife and young son but as it is pointed out in the titles voice-over no one ever really leaves the Mafia behind.  Mattei soon finds himself the victim of a gang of eight masked men who shoot him, wait for it... 22 times!  During this sudden and graphic sequence there is a rather comic little, yappy terrier versus shotgun stand off; needless to say Cesars dog food may want to recast given said dog now looks like one of their products.

Mattei survives, and he is angry, as angry as Reno can look which in all honesty isn't very.  Once he knows who set him up revenge is sought, people briskly walk around in long coats looking permanently worried or constipated, and the police turn up trying get to the bottom of it all but just getting in the way as usual.

First thing to note, this film is in French with no dubbing so a no go for people who don't have the patience for subtitles.  Although you don't really need them it's quite clear what's going on, I speak a little French and I was wondering what film the subtitles were for at times as apparently the writer was watching something else. But here is a conundrum for you, if the film were dubbed would Reno dub himself in English?  We'll never know.

Reno vowed never to return to Ikea during a sale again

22 Bullets isn't an action film, it's a thriller which occasionally threatens to turn on action but gets put to bed with a nice, hot cup of cocoa before it has the chance.  The story is good although the "twist" is obvious within the first ten minutes, and there are times when it takes a minute to remember who is on what side.  It doesn't really have a climax so to speak, it's building up to one but then the cork gets stuck in the bottle and all the fizz is gone.

Acting wise the cast hold together well, this isn't a badly acted film far from it, thugs and gangsters throw their weight around and then plead for mercy when the revenge act kicks in.  It's always surprising how quickly these guys flip when Reno is around.  It does use a standard scripted lines to life span ratio, if you're not saying something useful you're about to die.

Although promoted as being from the same producers as Taken, it doesn't have quite the same energy and turns into your standard Mafia boss war.  There is also the rather blinding blooper, if Mattei had no feeling in his hand to the extent he could not move any of his fingers how the hell did he escape on a motorbike?  Maybe the cat he befriended was driving, who knows, sloppy continuity though.

Somebody give Reno something decent, he deserves it, so long as he doesn't have the same manic grin he did in Godzilla which looked like he was mid demonic possession.  Watch 22 Bullets, it's not a bad film, but much like Mattei it's past its prime.