Brisk and slick French action thriller

Rating: 6/10 (22 November 2016)

A sleek and efficient action thriller from the guys who brought you KISS OF THE DRAGON. Although not equalling the heights of that particular movie, this is nevertheless a fully enjoyable tale of big bad guys, slimy bad guys, a lone action hero and a pretty tag-along Chinese girl (Shu Qi, who manages to be annoying, but not too much). The setting, once again, is France, so expect lots of breakneck car chases through the streets of Nice, some stunning locations, and lots of outrageous staged action sequences which will have you shaking your head in amazement – in a good way. Jason Statham is, it has to be said, no Jet Li, but instead he brings a kind of hardman toughness to his performance as the skinheaded hero, who strips off his shirt to battle the bad guys time and time again. I like Statham, and I hope to see him in more action movies to come. Out of the cast members, only Francois Berleand really shines as the friendly French cop.
The plot is nonsensical and full of holes, the script inconsequential. Even the bad guys are less bad than before, with the exception of Matt Schulze as the annoyingly 'yuppie' style smuggler and Ric Young as the stretched-face Chinese villain of the piece. However, the action comes thick and fast, from shoot-outs to hang-glider action and axe-fights to the death. Although this film does shy away from showing violent death, the martial arts battles are fast and furious, especially the oil slick tumble and the fight in the bus. Action fans should stick around for the truck-chase finale, which is exceptional stuff and includes one of the funniest deaths for a villain I've ever seen. Well-shot and slickly edited, my only problem is with the out of place music, rap and stuff like that, which I'm not a fan of, and which is pretty intrusive early on. Luckily it fades out come the thrill-ride of a finish.