Nuit blanche

(2011) Sleepless Night/ Nuit blanche (In French with English subtitles) CRIME THRILLER/ SUSPENSE DRAMA

Co-written and directed by Frédéric Jardin, which opens with a couple of people tailing another car for the intention of stealing it's bag of dope. And of course, although they succeeded, not everything went accordingly. We soon find out later that the 2 people of Vincent (Tomer Sisley) and Manel (Laurent Stocker) who managed to steal that bag of dope at the opening, also happen to work for the French police, whose intention was to make a little extra money. But as soon as one of the 2 officers, Vincent learns that his son had been kidnapped, and is held for ransom, in exchange for the dope to be returned to the French cartels lead by night club owner, Jose Marciano (Serge Riaboukine). It becomes even more complicated when undercover officers are involved, as one of them takes the liberty by hiding that very bag that was supposed to be used for the exchange is hidden in a different spot. I like the theme, but I do not care for the execution as the movie consists of many brawls that are not too spectacular. The extra star is for it's originality and nothing else.

Two masked cops go after some drug dealers and steal their drugs. One of them, Vincent, is injured in the ensuing fight. He's also identified by one of the criminals and witnesses. As a result, the big bad drug lord, Jose, kidnaps Vincent's son to get his drugs back. Now Vincent forcefully explains to his partner Manuel, that he needs the drugs while Manuel wants his cut and needs the money. Later Manuel meets with a crooked internal affairs cop.

Vincent retrieves the drugs and goes to Jose's lair, a giant dance club/restaurant/bar/private club for perverts and more. But he was followed by a female IA. She sees him go in the men's restroom with a bag but exit without the bag. So she goes in the men's restroom and finds the bag in the ceiling. She takes it and hides it in the women's restroom ceiling.

Vincent with just one little packet of drugs meets Jose and demands to see his son. After Jose checks the drugs and Vincent sees his son he offers to return in a few minutes with the rest of the drugs, which of course aren't there anymore. So he devises a plan and goes to the kitchen and gets the staff to fill packets with flour and put them in a bag. But by now another foreign gang has arrived demanding the drugs from Jose. The ruse works and Vincent gets his son back, but only for a while. He quickly loses his son again to the thugs.

Now with no more moves to make he has to get his son back, with Jose and his henchmen after him as well as the two IA agents and Vincent's ex-wife constantly calling him on the phone.

Nuit Blanche is quite thrilling at first. Everything up to the point where he loses his son after getting him is very exciting, timing is very important for Vincent and we are on the edge counting the seconds till the foreign drug dealers discover the ruse. Things slow down then for a bit as Vincent has no way out--no drugs, no weapon (he hid his somewhere in the club). But quickly things pick up again as he confronts the IA agents very violently and things get a little funny too as he uses some cute girl he rescued earlier from a pushy guy to hide and escape from all the people after him. Story-wise too there are several twists and turns and things aren't quite as they seem.

But, too much time is spent on the son, the ex-wife, kitchen fight scenes. Vincent running through a very crowded club gets repetitive fast. Almost the entire movie is set in the club and despite attempts to give us a variety of environments, it does get tiring after a while. Nevertheless, for a Heat-inspired French action thriller, this movie is worth watching.

The action in "Sleepless Night" is intense, sure. However, it is not a fight filled, guns blazing extravaganza. The US trailer and comments gave this movie credit with being a mix of Die Hard, 24, and Taken. However, it is much better than Taken, more intelligent than Die Hard, and more unnerving than 24.

Tomer Sisley plays Vincent, a cop who moves cocaine for a drug kingpin. However, things take a turn for the worse and Vincent's son is kidnapped by Marciano, the kingpin. Vincent must enter Marciano's nightclub and outsmart the thugs and crooked cops who are both trying to track down Vincent. Sisley's performance is physical and real, his face is often twisted in pain or sadness, or violent rage. His acting impressed me more than all other aspects of the movie.

The setting takes place almost entirely in a nightclub, where Vincent is searching for his son while trying to search for the hidden drugs which he must give to Marciano in exchange for his boy. Never have crowds of ordinary people played such an important part in a film. The crowds on the dance floor, stairs, and bathrooms all play significant parts in the film. I felt claustrophobic just watching Vincent try to swim through a mess of bodies numerous times. The lighting and music creates a seemingly frantic pace, of which the movie already has plenty. Another highlight is the fight between Vincent and fellow cop Manuel. It is a very realistic and brutal one. It turns into a desperate, devastating fight where both men are exhausted physically and mentally after wards. They utilize numerous kitchen items and the landscape to try and better one another. There is no fancy fight moves or wall climbing, only ferocity and violence in this fight.

I was impressed with the acting and location. The plot is average, but the cast helps elevate it, and you are genuinely concerned for Vincent an his son's well being. It is in French with English subtitles, and I'm glad there was no awful dubbing as is what usually happens. It is a good action movie that impresses with its cinematography and acting. Well worth a viewing or more, especially if you enjoy films like Die Hard or Taken. It more than deserves a spot next to them on the shelf.

The latter years I've gotten more and more impressed with French action movies. At least those I've come too see here in Norway, and that's quite a few. I would go so far as saying that the French are now the leading action flick makers, and by far has passed both the Americans and the Brits. The French movies I've seen recently is full of action, we'll played and has a great touch of realism, which very often is not the case with the films coming out of Hollywood.

This film, "Sleepless night", is about to be remade in Hollywood I understand, and there's really no wonder why. This is action from start to finish, and the best action I've seen since "Headhunters". It's tight, exciting, down right dirty action, and still very realistically told. It's a drug heist gone wrong, exploding into a nightmare. Many of there has been with corrupt cops, which is a great genre in itself amongst these films. I guess it's a great premise that you don't know who you can trust, or rather, like in this. You know who you can't trust. Anyone!

We meet a divorced cop getting into trouble after a rather bad decision. He is seen after committing a theft of a load of drugs. As a direct following if this, his beloved teenage son is kidnapped by the gangster missing their drugs. This starts off a nightmare which you really shouldn't miss!

A roller coaster of bad decisions and bad people. Filmed in dirty raw, grainy film, stressed music, with hand-held camera, which I've rarely seen more well done. Not annoying, just realistically adding to the nerve of the story. A treat of a film which sucks you up right from the start. I'll keep checking out French action movies!

A very nice movie, with a perfect plot, very good actors and a big direction. An old American movie,"No Way Out", (Italian title is "Senza via di scampo") is in my opinion the most similar movie for rhythm and perfection of the plot. You can't stop to see, and you don't know never how the movie will can finish, can happen absolutely all. And the end is perfect too, a very, very nice and clever solution. The bad guys are very, very bad, there are some little moment of humor and the movie goes without a moment to stop ! Go to see and/or buy the movie if you like the crime-movies, it's surely a masterpiece of this kind! Or wait an year or less to see the remake that surely Hollywood will do very soon, even with Denzel Washington in the lead-role...