De Premier

I so wanted to enjoy this.

I loved Koen De Bouw in Professor T and after being a bit let down with him only being a support actor in Red Light, I found this which was from the same era as P. T. with him looking rather similar.

Eventually, I found a version with English subtitles which was a help (perhaps they were hard to find as some of it was in English anyway).

Seeing a few guest stars from P. T. was a boost but the film itself was a let down and a beyond credibility but at least, unlike many films and TV shows here in the UK, it wasn't plastered with political correctness (so tired at mandatory same-sex relationships and a higher than average number of ethnic minorities in shows these days).

The music brought some suspense but unfortunately it didn't reflect the poor scenes on screen. So disappointed. Off to watch The Team now. Koen has a small role but hope his character has gravitas.

I did not expect too much from this film, but I was pleasantly surprised. Erik Van Looy did a good job on this one. The film takes you on a ride, right from the start, no boring moments. The superb acting from Koen De Bouw makes it very interesting to watch. You will have to guess until the end where the plot is going. 10 minutes before the end, I thought I would be disappointed with how I thought it would end,- because I don't like open, half finished ends,- but they did manage to give it a proper ending, good! If you don't like bloody, raw films, this is probably not the one to watch for you. Otherwise, go and watch this one!

Erik van Looy is one of Belgiums most beloved celebrities. He hosts the popular show De Slimste Mens (The Smartest Man) and is famous for his eccentric laugh. As a moviemaker his biggest succes were Loft and The Memory of a Killer, with the Belgian Robert De Niro: Jan Decleir.

This movie however triumphs in stupidity and cringeworthyness. The plot is full of holes, the protagonist acts like a wooden stick, and dialogues seem to be written by five year olds. I watched this film twice, it even being worse the second time around.

The only positive part about the film is the performance of the driver, who is able to bring a little smile on your face once in a while.

3/10, for Stijn Van Opstal. Without him, it would be 1/10.

De Premier aka 'President Under Siege' is a fairly average Euro effort. The main lead of the film is fairly wooden. The plot itself is fairly straightforward yet unconvincing. Implausibility aside, there was a role in the film played by Stijn Van Opstalthat (The Driver) which I thought was outstanding. Bags of charisma and he commanded every scene he was in. I'd like to see much more of him. Aside from this performance the rest of the film is not really worth watching.

"The Prime Minister" is the type of fast-paced crime/thriller that delivers copious amounts of action and suspense, however, it simultaneously also requires an almost complete suspension of disbelief on behalf of the viewer. If, and only if, you manage to turn off your skepticism regarding the overall story and the near-ludicrous plot-twists, the film will provide fantastic and non-stop entertainment. In case you swear by realism, don't even bother to press the play-button.

Writer/director Erik Van Looy is, in Flanders at least, a well-respected and much-loved media figure. He's the host of the most popular quiz on prime-time TV, appears in the panel of several games and talk shows and the films he directed ("De Zaak Alzheimer", "Loft") rank among the biggest blockbusters in history. His American adventure to direct a remake of "Loft" perhaps didn't work out as successful as he might had hoped, but he certainly returned to Belgium with a typically "Hollywoodian" idea for a crowd-pleasing and intense thriller. Our national pride in acting, Koen De Bouw, stars as the Belgian Prime Minister. There goes the plausibility already, in fact, because this country never had such a charismatic and eloquent prime minister. On his way to a European-American summit in Brussels, he is kidnapped and learns that his family - wife and two children - are held hostage, and that they will be executed if the Prime Minister himself doesn't agree to murder the American President during their private meeting in the afternoon.

Great aspects include a handful of totally unexpected but seriously vile and brutal execution sequences, the clever references towards actual Belgian politicians and the sadistic role of Stijn Van Opstal as the driver. I previously only knew him as an adequate but inconspicuous supportive actor in local TV-series ("Tabula Rasa", "Met Man en Macht"), but he deeply impresses here as the downright evil and unscrupulous terrorist who enjoys torturing, humiliating and provoking the Prime Minister and his PR-assistant. Even with a fair portion of suspension of disbelief, there are still a couple of major defaults. Van Looy unnecessarily adds melodrama to the plot with a typically cliched twist regarding the Minister's private life. And, surely, the climax could have been slightly better? I appreciate that Van Looy didn't turn his protagonist into a bona fide action hero, like Harrison Ford in "Air Force One", but there must have been other options to avoid such an anti-climax?