The Takedown

I watched this twice. Once with subtitles in English and the other with dubbed English voice actors. I liked both versions, but if you want the full value for your watching experience then the original audio is the way to go. French is a beautiful language, and in addition the actors original delivery makes certain scenes infinitely more funnier. For a buddy cop movie that's formulaic, The Takedown, works surprisingly well because the two leads have a believable and comical relationship. Think Lethal Weapon, but with French tropes instead of American. The Takedown is what you get when you pair an effete French elite with a hard nose Paris street cop. Add in some neo-Nazis, the far right political movement currently sweeping Europe, and car chases around France's scenic countryside and this is what you will get in this movie. It's nothing special, but it is enjoyable in two languages.

Recommended.

Most cliché movie I've seen in forever, it's so predictable it hurts. Such a shame since the cast is actually quite capable and the plot isn't half bad.

Or is it funny cops? Well I guess there is a mixture, because while this is ridiculous in one sense, it has quite a few intense action scenes on the other hand. Not to mention quite the explicit violence and at least one really awful looking death (and I don't mean the CGI).

That all being said, the movie is predictable and if you don't get down with the comedy and the humor - you might have an issue watching this. The "fine" line between humor and action, may not be for everyone. The movie is decent - but you'll get the vibe it has from the first scene. When the police is unable to figure out which door to use ... you'll either think this is funny or you better switch the movie off.

Take Down (Loin du Périph).

Once again, director Louis Leterrier and actor Omar Sy work together. After directing a few episodes of the great series Lupin, Leterrier is behind the camera in this French crime comedy available on Netflix.

It's a beat-up story, with two cops of different styles who haven't seen each other in a long time, having to work together to investigate a murder in a small French town.

Clichés after clichés, predictability, bad jokes. What saves is the always enlightened presence of Omar Sy, playing the police officer Ousmane Diakhité and some fun scenes between him and Laurent Lafitte, a member of La Comédie-Française, who in the film is the police officer François Monge.

It's a typical afternoon session movie, to watch, rest your head, laugh a little and then forget about it.

Between bombastic action sequences that take way too long to get where they're going, a predictable plot and leaning heavily into screwball buddy-cop comedy that just doesn't land, this is mostly a misfire. Sy and Lafitte do their best with the material, and Izia Higelin brings her own brand of luminous charisma to her screen time, but they're let down by weak writing and embarrassingly juvenile jokes at every turn. One is better off watching a movie that does this formula right, like Rush Hour or the original Lethal Weapon.