Point Blank (2010)

Director: Fred Cavayé

Cast: Gilles Lellouche, Roschdy Zem, Gérard Lanvin

Synopsis: A male nurse finds his family in danger after saving the life of a villain.

Gilles Lelouch (Mesrine Public Enemy No 1) is a happily-married expectant father working as a nurse in a hospital whose life is turned upside down when he prevents the murder of a patient, a career villain mown down by a motorbike while being pursued by two shady characters.   The villain’s accomplice kidnaps Gilles’ wife and orders him to smuggle his mate out of hospital or she dies.

It’s a fair bet that sooner or later, this frenetic French thriller will find itself being remade by some Hollywood studio, which is quite ironic because it’s quite clearly fashioned after the classic Hollywood model of the everyday Joe who finds himself out of his depth when catapulted into an alien world which, in this case, happens to be that of police corruption.

Point Blank flies along at such a breathless pace that’s it only after the final credits roll that the sheer audacity of the plot begins to overshadow the visceral thrills provided by its myriad twists and turns and chase sequences.   I can understand one rogue cop being corrupt – even two at a stretch, but when the whole department is so rotten, believability starts to be stretched.   It’s difficult to see when these guys would actually get any time to do any regular police work, the amount of time they spend running around shooting unwitting colleagues and innocent stooges who find themselves drawn into their web.

Point Blank’s strength is probably the character played by Gilles Lelouch and the way that his desperate circumstances don’t transform him into some kind of superhero.   By the final act he’s still running away from anyone who looks dangerous, and getting beaten up by a woman.   He survives the whole adventure through sheer luck which, ironically, is one of the few aspects of the film that doesn’t stretch credibility.   Point Blank will entertain you as long as you don’t take it too seriously.

(Reviewed 9th December 2011)