Bastion 36

Despite few pretty charming leads, and pretty simplistic setup, this movie is not going anywhere in its 2 hour run.

I waited and I waited and I waited and I waited. Just half a hour left to the end and still nothing of any significance, let alone THRILLING had happened.

Characters just blabber and walk and blabber, the whole conspiracy is never explained very well, the motivation is questionable at best and the story is too simple to justify such buildup (to nothing) in any form or way.

It's filmed really well, and I hoped to see a good European crime thriller to refresh my palate, but Squad 36 definitely isn't one.

The Netflix English-language synopsis is: "Forced out of his elite unit, a troubled cop launches his own rougue investigation when mysterious killings claim the lives of his former colleagues." Okay, sounds promising: maybe a noirish thriller or perhaps a revenge action movie.

Nope! It's a cloying, dour melodrama about coplife that's pretty insipid and pointless. You can tell you're in for a bumpy ride from the outset when the main character, who's supposed to be moonlighting as an underground MMA fighter, shows up for his bouts in a long-sleeve t-shirt. Presumably the actor couldn't be bothered to get in good enough shape to not look ridiculous cage-fighting shirtless.

Regardless the "mystery" elements aren't mysterious, the characters aren't likeable enough to engender interest/sympathy and the movie teases grand conspiracies it has no interest in exploring.

If there's any point to any of this at all it seems to be that one cannot fight City Hall. Fair enough, and there's a way to do that sort of thing right: see e.g. Chinatown and L. A. Confidential. They wove compelling characters, pathos and procedural elements into entertaining mysteries with gutting (Chinatown) and/or downbeat (L. A. Confidential) finales.

This, unfortunately, is more like a smug existentialist wasting the audience's time for two hours before getting to his rather banal point.

I'm so shocked how bad this movie is, there is no point at all. I can't believe I wasted 1.5 hours on this movie. It was an absolute disaster from start to finish. The plot was nonsensical, the acting was wooden, and the special effects were laughably bad. It felt like the filmmakers didn't even try. The dialogue was cringeworthy, and the pacing was painfully slow. There was no character development, and the ending was completely unsatisfying. I kept hoping it would get better, but it never did. The characters were one-dimensional and lacked any depth or motivation. The action scenes were poorly choreographed and failed to deliver any excitement. The soundtrack was forgettable and did nothing to enhance the experience. Overall, this film is a complete waste of time and money. Save yourself the frustration and skip it. Trust me, you'll thank me later.

Rating it 6 stars (yet, would give it five and a half if possible) it means it is watchable (5 and below is increasingly bad), decent, but lower your expectations anyway - the movie is too slow for no reason, the main character is too inadequate for reason not really good enough. Yest, well played, well filmed - nothing wrong with the cinematography, it is just the plot that is average, but wanted to be more while it couldn't. So my advice is to spare some time for it only if there is nothing more intriguing or you don't want to be that concentrated in a movie.

The French are capable of better, either action, drama or both.

Okay, so Squad 36 - it starts off like it's gonna be this gritty, edge-of-your-seat cop thriller, with a crazy cool chase scene through rainy streets and all that jazz. I was in at first. The main guy, Antoine, is this hot-headed cop who moonlights as a bare-knuckle brawler (because... sure, why not?), and it seems like we're gearing up for some good old-fashioned crime drama. Buuut then it just kind of... deflates. Like when you pour yourself a strong espresso and it somehow tastes like lukewarm tap water halfway through. The plot wanders into this whole corruption scandal thing, but it never hits hard. It just kinda slogs along like a slow walker in a busy hallway-you know how I feel about that. Some folks thought it was a fun ride with decent performances (fair enough), but most reviews I peeked at were like, "Eh, skip it." The ending was super meh - like it was trying to be deep and gritty, but ended up just feeling flat. So yeah, it could be your thing if you just want background noise with some French cops brooding. I'd pass and save my time for something with a bit more bite.