The last time we saw director James Watkins step behind the camera, he was scaring up a storm with 2012’s The Woman in Black. For his follow-up, Bastille Day, he’s changing tack quite a bit with a fast paced actioner that has one foot firmly in the 80’s, back when hero cops played by no one’s rules, not even their own. We find ourselves in Paris, days before France’s national holiday, and the city is a powder keg of political and racial tensions after American pickpocket Michael Mason (Games of Thrones’ Richard Madden) snatches the wrong bag, and inadvertently becomes number one suspect in a terrorist bombing. Enter no nonsense CIA agent Sean Briar (Idris Elba), who is tasked with bringing Mason in for questioning. Soon catching up with quarry, Briar realises something’s rotten in France’s capital, and he and Mason team up to get to the bottom of what exactly is going on.
Of course, Idris Elba is well suited to the role of tough guy action lead. With every snarl and gruff put down, the man many people wouldn’t mind seeing as James Bond completely owns the role of Briar, throwing himself into the various action set pieces with abandon. He is clearly having a great time in the role, and you’ll have a great time watching him, ramping the enjoyment factor of this low key action thriller by several notches. Richard Madden does his best to hold his own opposite him, succeeding at points, and the two prove to have a solid chemistry as the classic action movie odd couple. It’s almost enough to see passed the fact that two English actors have been cast to play Americans. They are surrounded by an able supporting cast, including Kelly Rielly and Charlotte le Bon, but they really just exist to get our heroes where they need to be.
Things get off to a great start with a rollicking first act, all the pieces put in place with a deft touch, but unfortunately things soon get a bit daft (especially when the Internet becomes a heavily used plot device) and formulaic. Still entertaining, but you might find yourself checking out every now and again, as scenes soon become a succession of the bad guys stumbling onto our heroes, shoot out, escape, repeat. The narrative does throw up some nice twists and turns as it barges forward, as well as some slickly realised action scenes, but again, things get far to predictable, and one twist too many (which you’ll see coming a mile off) hurst the story overall, leading to a finale that caps things off with a whimper instead of a bang.
While far too reminiscent of a thousand action movies that have come before it, Bastille Day makes great use of it’s two leads to take you on a fun, entertaining ride.
Of course, Idris Elba is well suited to the role of tough guy action lead. With every snarl and gruff put down, the man many people wouldn’t mind seeing as James Bond completely owns the role of Briar, throwing himself into the various action set pieces with abandon. He is clearly having a great time in the role, and you’ll have a great time watching him, ramping the enjoyment factor of this low key action thriller by several notches. Richard Madden does his best to hold his own opposite him, succeeding at points, and the two prove to have a solid chemistry as the classic action movie odd couple. It’s almost enough to see passed the fact that two English actors have been cast to play Americans. They are surrounded by an able supporting cast, including Kelly Rielly and Charlotte le Bon, but they really just exist to get our heroes where they need to be.
Things get off to a great start with a rollicking first act, all the pieces put in place with a deft touch, but unfortunately things soon get a bit daft (especially when the Internet becomes a heavily used plot device) and formulaic. Still entertaining, but you might find yourself checking out every now and again, as scenes soon become a succession of the bad guys stumbling onto our heroes, shoot out, escape, repeat. The narrative does throw up some nice twists and turns as it barges forward, as well as some slickly realised action scenes, but again, things get far to predictable, and one twist too many (which you’ll see coming a mile off) hurst the story overall, leading to a finale that caps things off with a whimper instead of a bang.
While far too reminiscent of a thousand action movies that have come before it, Bastille Day makes great use of it’s two leads to take you on a fun, entertaining ride.
