Alias

I chanced upon this French crime-action-thriller on Netflix and was totally taken aback by the planning and execution of it's action scenes, though it is not a genre that I particularly enjoy.

Alban Lenoir, the co-writer & lead actor of the film looks ultra-skilled and effortless in both hand-to-hand combat and close range shooting scenes.

There is enough blood and gore in the movie, but still the movie appears realistic. Even though the body count is high, the act in itself is never glorified.

Amidst all the blazing guns and bullet wounds on his body, Alban Lenoir's Adam Franco, the protagonist turns out to be quite headstrong in protecting young children, which adds the required humanity angle to the film.

The story unfolds at a relatively slower rate, but it's never boring. Your 122 minutes are well taken care of.

I've always read imdb user reviews before, and this is my first time reviewing a movie, because this French movie AKA on Netflix surely deserves a review (there's none yet at the time of my writing).

AKA is like a combination of some well produced movies that come to mind such as the Bourne series, Taken, Nobody, John Wick, Heat etc. Heroes who should just have been left alone. Heroes with good souls who have to decide who to protect, whose orders to follow, and what to fight for.

There's a lot of action, fighting & shooting. But these are not the mindless kind of fighting. The script is not bad with unexpected stories and characters. The action hero is played by a French actor Alban Lenoir I have never heard of, who manages to play the role just as well as Matt Damon, Liam Neeson, or Keanu Reeves would have played had they acted in this movie.

I give it 9/10. If I were the movie editor, some scenes could have been cut out and were not necessary, to reach a wider audience. Other than that, most of the characters were well played; the action scenes were done very well; the script was clever with an appropriate overlay of effective music soundtrack.

Honestly surprised by how good this movie was. I watched it with a low expectation, so just pretend that you have not read my review, don't know anything about this movie, and watch it with no expectation or idea about the movie.

AKA (2023 release from France; 118 min) brings the story of Adam Franco, an undercover special opps guy who is afraid of nothing or nobody. The French Minister of the Interior's chief of staff orders Franco to infiltrate a criminal gang in order to track down the whereabouts of a bombing suspect.... At this point we are less than 10 minutes into the movie.

Couple of comments: this is the feature length directing debut of Morgan Dalibert, previously a well-known cinematographer. Dalibert co-wrote the script along with Alban Lenoir, the erstwhile stunt man-turned-actor who plays the role of Adam Franco. These two know each other well, having collaborated on "Lost Bullet". Here they bring a gritty crime drama. I must admit that based on the film's opening sequence, I was expecting something more glamorous, but once the story really got goin, I found myself fully invested. Let me be very clear, tough: this is a very violent movie, and the body count is off the chart, so if that is not your thing, please find something else to watch. Eric Cantona alert! Yes, the French soccer star from the 1990s who played for Manchester United for 5 years, has continued to build a very nice acting career after retiring from football. Here he plays the head of the criminal gang, one of the pivotal roles in this film. Bottom line: my expectations were surpassed with this movie, and these 2 hours just flew by.

AKA started streaming on Netflix just last weekend, and I watched it last night. If you like a crime drama that is gritty and violent, yet that is also wildly entertaining with solid performances all around, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

First the film is in French, so if you speak french or don't mind reading subtitles it's a solid choice.

It's kind of a Jason Bourne / Extraction type film, but done in a more realistic manner. Magazines aren't always magically full, the bad guys don't die from one shot while the good guys get shot 5 times and keep fighting, and while the hero is heroic, he's not completely impervious to the bad guys like a lot of action movies portray heroes.

Alban Lenoir does a great job being a badass and doesn't ruin the movie trying to look cool or have some stupid catch phrase that makes it cheesy. I definitely would watch another movie where he's the hero.

The action is really great, the sets are good, and you can stay immersed in the story pretty easily. The story is good and has a couple twists, but there's a couple of predictable times as well which was a little disappointing.

The fight scenes and shootouts are really good, the close quarter fighting is stellar but some of the long range shooting is not as good as it could have been. Hero not having enough cover, the missed shots causing little explosions, etc...

Overall a really solid action movie that won't disappoint you, If it were in English (I don't mean dubbed), I think more people would be talking about it.

AKA French action movie on Netflix created by the team Lost Bullet. The story follows an undercover agent who must face an emotional test when he infiltrates a gang of criminals and unexpectedly forms a close bond with the boss's son.

This is an action-drama movie with well-written plot details that successfully blend moral principles with the role of a killer spy. Despite Alban Lenoir not having a traditionally handsome appearance, his acting skills in this movie are much more impressive compared to his previous work in "Lost Bullet." His intense solo action scenes are still present even though the movie emphasizes more on the drama aspect. Overall, this is a highly recommended streaming movie that should not be missed.