Six-Pack

Thrillers are not French director's forte.Their métier has always been the psychological detective story,but in recent years ,the genre has almost completely disappeared.To name but one Claude Chabrol magnificently blended mystery and social comment. But it was then and this is now and the French directors are dreaming of a true thriller "à l'américaine".So this movie respectfully follows the rules:two cops,a monstrous killer,the de rigueur trip to an American prison where -in the grand "silence of the lambs " tradition-French cop meets a prisoner with a bloody past,the beautiful girl used as a bait.Berberian really wants us to feel we're in a genuine American thriller.His movie was made to invite the audience to sit back and get some scares.

So it may have been,but if so it signally fails in its purpose.Worse than the worst of all American thrillers,"six pack" pits listless Anconina and his insignificant pal against (oh my God) a serial killer who's got diplomatic immunity!Too bad Bernard Fresson appears only at the beginning.He's by far the best actor of the lot,Mastroianni being reduced to a walk-on in a bowling.

Six pack?Six c.... more like!

France is a country where thrillers represent around 5% of the local productions. After seing SIX PACK, it's clear to see why.

Alain Berberian (who previously directed LA CITE DE LA PEUR and PAPARAZZI, two extremely successful comedies, unfortunetaly with no cinematic interest besides the fact being shot in anamorphic 2.35:1 aspect ratio) is trying his best. The story itself is quite interesting : a serial killer is on the loose in Paris and he seems to be an american citizen working in the US embassy and being in the middle of a french-american economical affair. No spoiler here because the story is not a whodunit but more in the Alfred Hitchcock's FRENZY's "how the killer is going to be catched?" way. The biggest mistake was the lead role. An aging Richard Anconina plays the detective trying to catch the killer. His acting is by far the worst of his career, thus not helping the movie. In fact, the whole theater was laughing : 1/at his acting 2/ his oh so serious english accent when he's supposed to meet a former american detective in Chicago.

The other mistake was the second lead, Frederic Diefenthal, playing the other detective. He's trying to play the tough cop but once again, he made the whole theater laugh. He can't even handle a gun properly (and he's supposed to be a professionnal!). Pathetic. He demonstrated in Taxi 2 and here that his acting capabilities are really too limited to become someone else than a 3rd rate actor.

And the movie takes itself too seriously. It's obvious that M. Berberian is trying to scare his audience, but many directors already did the same thing before and in a better way(in its exploitative way, THE BONE COLLECTOR was kinda good and even RESURRECTION was a winner compared to this turkey). The end could have been daring. But not. It ends the same way many american thrillers did, that makes even more ridiculous the only daring action the screenplay delivers. It's also obvious how M. Berberian wants to walk the path Philip Noyce or Russel Mulcahy took some time ago.

There is also still that french complex on trying to do the same as the american studios did (the typical Luc Besson complex). And the fact it just wants to add something to think about (here the political side of the movie). Why not? But SIX PACK delivers nothing but true disappointments in every department. Even the cinematography efforts seeem pointless. And that car chase in an Opel Astra is totally unnecessary except the director might have said :" hey! we also need a car chase. let's do it now!" He just might have put it anywhere else in the movie, that would have made no difference at all.

The only positive point is Chiara Mastroainni : she's badly directed as the others but her fragile side is a relief compared to the seriousness she's surrounded with.

As always with french thrillers, it looks nice on the paper but you can fill up the garbage can with the way it has been shot. I give a 1 out of 10.

I don't know why everyone thinks this one is so bad. It is not worse than "The Bone Collector". It is nicely done, with some unbelievable plot, but fun to watch. The best moment which made us laugh was when the inspector complains about the "american psychos" now imported to France. The film was not too boring as well. Check it out, but do not expect a masterpiece.

I've watched this movie in the night program of a German TV channel and have never heard of it before so I didn't have any expectations. It was no bad movie but also not really a good one.Pretty much everything is solidly done.Acting, plot, suspense etcetera is fine but there's nothing in that movie which makes it special in any way.Too many things could already be seen other movies and often even better done like the visit in an American prison to see a serial killer which seemed almost like a must have in every mediocre thriller since Silence of the Lambs. So eventually it's some kind of French version of The Bone Collector in my opinion.Not really good but it does at least not get boring while you see it so you don't waste your time with seeing it but you won't have the urge to see it once again either.

I don't understand why so many viewers don't appreciate this film. It is faithful to the Jean-Hughes Oppel's novel, written four years earlier. A dark, sad and gloomy tale involving the State Reason, a typical French scheme, very often used in books ; it is the Oppel's trade mark, and not only his, believe me. So back to this film, I admit that Diefenthal and Anconina were not the best choices. I totally agree on this point, but for the rest, Chiara Mastroianni shines in this movie, despite her so short performance. Photography and directing are more than effective. And above all, I love the ending, not in the American Hollywood way. One little thing, in France, beat cops in patrol cars, always work by three, not two.