Overdose

Well, I certainly don't agree with the majority of reviews here. OK, this is as far as I know the first film directed by Olivier Marchal that I have seen BUT I can compare this with some others of a similar nature like Heat. I'm not saying this is as good as I personally thought that was though this was fast-moving. Had a good plot/storyline and was without any CGI or similar. Drugs received/transfered/undercover cop/ unnecessary murders/investigation. A few sex scenes - nothing excessive but a violent film but nothing really gratuitous, although it did receive an R18 rating. Stars Sofia Essaidi, Nicolas Cazalé, Alberto Ammann. Dubbed into English from French Original.

I really enjoyed this predictable but pretty well drug crime drama. It is below of masterpieces like Sicario, but still watchable.

The storyline is based on the usual crime drama's that include some action here, some violence there and not really any great twist or surprise here.

Best here are some of the characters that you can root for. So it is interesting to know more and more about them and how the story ends. I think the story is quite decent and the conclusion obvious but pretty well executed.

So, overall good but not great, it could have been far better with a more risky script. I don't know why movie's directors are always using the same formula, an acceptable 6/10.

I unfortunately guess that the director of 36, QUAI DES ORFEVRES, MR 73 and LES LYONNAIS has lost his soul, because in this movie, and also the four previous ones, are far from being as emitionally powerful as the three first; I won't mention GANGSTERS, very first film from OM. OVERDOSE is only a very efficient crime drama, very well done, in terms of directing, editing, and acting, even without any great bankable movie stars, such as for instance Jean Dujardin or Gilles Lelouche. But the actors here are perfectly cast, pretty good figures, faces, for such a story. But not great stars, that's all, as was also OM previous feature : BRONX. And notice that Marchal has also the taste to hire female old timers: here Catherine Allegret; in BRONX, Claudia Cardinale; in 36, Mylène Demongeot.... There is no real lead character here, many supporting ones, a very convincing Nicolas Cazalé, the French actor with Antonio Banderas' eyes, who had never worked with OM before. Some gruesome torture scenes, not for the squeamish. I am sure that Olivier Marchal will always make crime films, very good ones, but without the awesome atmosphere he had in 36, MR 73 and LES LYONNAIS. Maybe because he will never have great movie stars any more...Anyway, I am surprised that Gaumont company, the oldest and most famous in French movie industry, still produces his movies. I hope it will continue though. He seems to have lost all his ambitions here.

Whilst French cinema likes to tend to the philosophical, French action films are often well watchable and underrated.

Overdose is well written, acted, directed and edited, and provides a satisfying drama. The villains are villainous, and the cops determined, and although this is only going to end one way, the turns along the way keep you entertained.

In places, it is not an easy watch (I said the villains are villainous), and there is little relief from the relentless focus of both sides. There is a little bit of sex, but it is not very sexy, rather unlike a French film in that respect.

The pacing of the film is enjoyable, through the borderlands between France and Spain, and the camerawork is hard to fault.

Definitely worth a watch if you like action crime drama.

This kind of product contains a set of ingredients that we find in all films of this genre, precisely. You need cars and motorcycles, with crumpled canvas and chases. You need a more or less intense police war, in this case less so, as the different police forces communicate: Spanish, French, Parisian, provincial, special units. You need weapons. It needs villains, thugs, who when they appear shout it (hairstyles, costumes, make-up). It needs gore and extreme violence, here unnecessary (the hammer) and off behind a wooden door (good idea). It needs sex, which is totally unnecessary here. And a romantic story between police officers. All this is conventional and unoriginal. But it's well tied together by a script that integrates these ingredients.

Olivier Marchal deserves credit for his talent in directing the actors, all of whom are excellent. The film is perhaps a little long (20 minutes too long) and could have been tightened up a little. But on the whole, it lives up to its brief. A nominal quality in a conventional package for the genre to which it belongs.