Point Blank

The renaissance of the crime genre in France has been mainly associated in recent years with the name of Olivier Marchal, but in my eyes, my latest discovery Fred Cavayé surpasses him. I have already seen his film Anything for Her and I said to myself that this director has talent and is worth paying attention to. With his film Point Blank, not only did he not disappoint me, but he even very much surprised me. It is not a great work of art, but rather a perfectly executed work in the action crime genre. I have said many times before that action movies usually disappoint me because they rely solely on the action and do not care about the acting performances and especially the screenplay. That is not the case here. You don't have to hit your head with a hammer to accept any sort of nonsensical motivations, silly behavior, and stupid plot. It is a reasonably short adrenaline-filled film, where an ordinary guy and a family man are suddenly thrown into the world of crime and desperately struggle not only to preserve their reputation but also their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Not that I haven't found some minor logical errors here, but within the genre, they are completely forgettable details. Point Blank is simply better than the majority of much more famous action titles. Well-cast unknown actors, a screenplay that can surprise and, above all, not let you breathe, and dynamic direction make Point Blank an experience that only happens once in a while with an unknown title. Overall impression: 90%. (30/10/2012)

There are some flaws here, but this is indeed how I imagine a suspense thriller. The filmmakers managed to keep the frantic pace of the action-packed film from the very beginning to the end, perhaps thanks to the shorter runtime. When I take into account that the main character is a likable guy, who you just can't help but root for, it all adds up to a great spectacle for a Sunday evening. (75%) (08/11/2020)

The movie that definitively promoted Cavayé to the coolest cat in thrillers “with regular guys from next door". Unlike Anything For Her, he and Klaus Badelt go hard at it from scene one, so this isn’t as innovative and doesn’t fit so tightly with the main duo, but they make up for that with suspense. It’s true that this is often at the expense of frequent genre clichés, but they are delivered here in style. And the best evidence of this is that my seat was absolutely soaked by the end of the movie - I must have sweated out a good few pounds over the course of those eighty minutes; what is an hour and a half of street hockey in comparison? (24/07/2011)