Gardiens de l'ordre

I was looking forward to seeing director Nicolas Boukhrief's latest movie since I had enjoyed the previous one, Cortex, despite its flaws.

In Gardiens de l'ordre, Boukhrief explores once again the thriller genre, except this one is more of a classic crime flick. Julie and Simon are two cops who, responding to a seemingly routine call, end up shooting the son of a politician. At that point, they lose the support of the police department and decide to go rogue and find proof that he was under the influence of a powerful narcotic by taking the plunge into the world of drug trafficking.

Yup, if what I just wrote above sounds like a plot that stretches believability and seems to come straight out of the 80s, you've got a pretty good idea of how this movie will play out. Cécile De France stars as Julie. American audiences will recognize her from the underground horror hit "High Tension", although she also has a list of interesting credits in Europe. De France does an adequate job of portraying Julie but the writing leaves little room for character development of any sort. Fred Testot co-leads as Simon and is also unremarkable, again due to weak writing.

But what really, really kills the movie is the paper-thin plot. Starting from the very premise, you never buy what happens there, as it seems to come straight out of the 60s. In fact, it's very much as if the writers had watched too many old movies and forgot that surveillance cameras and forensic science have come a LONG way since then. At every turn of the plot, you will find yourself wondering why characters do what they do, how could two cops be dumb enough to leave such a trail of damning evidence behind them and how their colleagues can be even dumber and not figure it out.

A movie that is loose on realism has never been an obstacle to entertainment, provided it offers something else. Hollywood action, for instance, or romance, or comedy, or just strong characters you become fascinated with. Unfortunately, Gardiens de l'ordre does none of that. It really tries to play out like a procedural thriller/drama most of the time, halfway between Serpico and Rush. But it completely fails, unfortunately.

I'm very disappointed that Boukhrief couldn't improve on Cortex, which at least had some charm and mood to go with the questionable plot. This new film offers absolutely nothing new.

During a routine night patrol, the police officer Bastien (Emeric Marchand), his long-term partner Julie (Cécile De France) and the newcomer cop Simon (Fred Testot) are called by a neighbor complaining of the noise in another apartment. Bastien knocks the door and out of the blue, the dweller opens the door and shoots his chest. Julie shoots the man that is complete high and apprehends a strange fluorescent yellow drug. Sooner they learn that the man is the son of a politician from the parliament and in the hearing they are forced to sign a statement telling that the shot was accidental and deny the evidence of drugs. When the man recovers in the hospital, he sues the police officers and the police department does not support them. However, their chief tells them that they should seek evidences of the trafficker that had sold the drugs to the man. Julie and Simon go undercover to the underworld of drugs trafficking posing of dealers from the south and find that the drug is named sphinx. Sooner they are introduced to the powerful drug lord Marc (Julien Boisselier) who is responsible for the supply of sphinx. Now they are alone in a way with no return dealing with a dangerous gang.

"Gardiens de l'Ordre" is another great French thriller. The gorgeous Cécile De France and Emeric Marchand show a great chemistry, supported by a good story of two police officers that are forced to go rogue and stay in the blurred thin line between the worlds of law and order where they belong, and crime and drugs where they are forced to join. The screenplay is not totally original and uses a couple of clichés, but the result is a good film that never disappoints. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Guardiões da Ordem" ("Guardians of the Order")

The influence being the Belgian thrillers I have watched lately. And compared to them, this would be really weak. But I am not trying to compare those (though it would be nice to see a Belgian remake of this movie ... and why shouldn't they do that?). This french thriller is nicely done and has good actors.

Still too much cliché and as another reviewer wrote, you'd be excused for thinking you are back in the 80s when you read the plot of the movie. But of course there is more to it than meets the eye, which almost elevates the movie to another level. Unfortunately it stays with the "almost" and does not take that leap. Still if "crime" is your thing, you might wanna try this out. You could do a lot worse.