La nuit se traîne

Although 'La nuit se traîne' is set in Brussels, it has all the characteristics of a run-of-the-mill thriller from Hollywood. A gentleman-criminal living in a luxury high rise overlooking the city? Check. A high speed car chase ending in a crash? Check. A man escaping from his pursuers by entering a subway car that's about to leave the platform? Check. Two creepy looking thugs using violence againt anyone standing in their way? Check.

These tired Hollywood clichés and the abundance of violence stand in the way of what this film could have been: an original and well-written nail-biter with an interesting social dimension. The screenplay is clever enough. The film takes place during one night, in which locksmith Mady is drawn against his will into a dirty affair which keeps on getting more complicated and, for him, more life-threatening. In order to safe his life, he has to retrieve a large sum of cash before dawn. The events take place against the background of a large Black Lives Matter-demonstration.

But instead of concentrating on the story, the film takes unnecessary detours, and fails to explain some improbabilities. On the plus side, the director has put a lot of effort in filming the nocturnal streets of Brussels, and succeeds in showing the city from a nice aesthetic perspective. For viewers who are familar with the city, trying to recognize the locations is a nice game.

I was surprised with this one.

Tons of action, unpredictable story, the twists are well written, acting is impressive, better than anticipated, good storyline, gets going right out of the gate, heartwarming, gut wrenching and an overall,a good flick. I would watch it again, not something I do with most movies. I'd recommend this one to most although the level of violence is pretty intense at times, so it's not for "everyone."

I wouldn't say the story is entirely original, however I haven't seen the same plot that I can recall, but have seen movies with the same general storyline but there's no stealing of ideas and the filming and location was stimulating as the area was entirely foreign to me personally.

A working man makes a single mistake and a wild story is born, in that regard this is not completely fictional. It's Belgian backdrop, cultural bits and the uniqueness of the central character makes this movie interesting. Action scenes weren't superficial and the locksmith doesn't become a superhero killing machine. The escape from both the law and criminals is a sharp social commentary and the story is written well enough to show how Mady's mind us rushing. Performances were flawless and the story's directness did seemed to be help. Decent audio effects and background music. Night Call is a well-paced movie with a straight forward plot that's easily enjoyable.

I liked the acting especially from the guy who played the main character but the ending fell flat and was very unsatisfying. The story itself had it's moments however, there were too many situations where the main character made silly or very bad decisions or where the scenes felt too "convenient" for the sake of pushing the story along. I. E. The scene with Theo and Mady in the car with the female activist or the club scene. This film had a lot of potential but the execution was basic and ok. It didn't leave a lasting impression on me. The actors were great. I just wish their talents were displayed in a better script. The guy who played "Mady" is a very talented actor. I look forward to seeing him in more projects.

Since a short while now - several years - this kind of French spoken actionners are only available on streaming platforms, certainly not released in movie theaters. The main surprise here is Romain Duris as the villain; as also was Frank Gastambide in CARJACKERS or Jalil Lespert in GT MAX. French actors for whom the villain roles was a premiere...I love this. Here the movie is riveting, very well made you always wonder where the story leads you to. It is a crime film, not a drama, or crime drama. But you have films better than this one, French - Belgian here - actionners, which, I repeat, are straight to streaming platforms. Curious and unexpected ending.