Bastion 36

Good acting especially of Victor Belmondo kept me and my wife engaged until the unexpected end that I cannot spoil here.

He saved this movie to be an average cop thriller.

The story is a classic corruption film that was directed by the well known French director Olivier Marchal who did several other good mystery thrillers.

All the staff and actors did a respectable job here and the movie is fast paced. There were some hot chases on motorcycle. Alright, you know this is a dark corrupted movie seen times before but if you have nothing other to watch this works for an entertaining evening.

Solid 6/10.

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.

A typical PolAr crime film from France, but one that surprises with German-language tracks by Rebeka WARRIOR and the band KOMPROMAT in the soundtrack!

The grandson of Jean-Paul BELMONDO (1933 - 2021), Victor BELMONDO (born 1993), plays a young police officer from the French BRI who is transferred to the BAC as a punishment because of his penchant for illegal competitions. Six months later, some of his former colleagues are killed. Apparently the former friends were involved in illegal activities. The investigation reveals further surprises.

Nothing new from the PolAr genre that is so popular in France and beyond! But with French director Olivier MARCHAL, who is primarily responsible for the genre classic 36 QUAI DES ORFEVRES from 2004, a master of his craft delivers a passable NETFLIX film. For fans of the French crime film, which is also somehow the successor to the Italian Poliziotteschi from the 1970s, it is definitely worth a viewing.

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.

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.