Menace sur la Maison Blanche

I did not expect too much from this film, but I was pleasantly surprised. Erik Van Looy did a good job on this one. The film takes you on a ride, right from the start, no boring moments. The superb acting from Koen De Bouw makes it very interesting to watch. You will have to guess until the end where the plot is going. 10 minutes before the end, I thought I would be disappointed with how I thought it would end,- because I don't like open, half finished ends,- but they did manage to give it a proper ending, good! If you don't like bloody, raw films, this is probably not the one to watch for you. Otherwise, go and watch this one!

De Premier aka 'President Under Siege' is a fairly average Euro effort. The main lead of the film is fairly wooden. The plot itself is fairly straightforward yet unconvincing. Implausibility aside, there was a role in the film played by Stijn Van Opstalthat (The Driver) which I thought was outstanding. Bags of charisma and he commanded every scene he was in. I'd like to see much more of him. Aside from this performance the rest of the film is not really worth watching.

This new movie from director Erik Van Looy is honestly one of the most well made movies ever made in Belgium. It takes the usual Belgian movie tropes but also adds a lot of American influences. There are a lot of unexpected twists that add to the social commentary of the current political climate. Besides this, the performance from main lead Koen De Bouw is astounding. Together with the amazing soundtrack the movie has a lot of suspense that kept me on the edge of my seat, never checking my phone or anything. You are really enthralled into the story. The best character in the movie is by far the Driver who is not all that meets the eye. In the end this is a really well made thriller suitable for a wide audience that will grip you till the end.

This movie is a typical B class movie made with A class budget. Screenplay is naive to say the least - some may call it daft. There are massive holes in logic behind portrayed heroes and action takes swings from bad to worse. As in all B class movies villains use all super-tech gear, yet are equipped with IQ hovering around lower 60s - enough to speak to people but not enough intelligence for their actions to make any sense. If you have two hours to waste or have guests that you do not like, treat them or yourself with this "movie".

I watched the first 15mins and there was not one English word, and no subtitles. Maybe that changed later on but if I do not need to know what the actors are saying, there's little point them saying it perhaps. Various discussions about the daughter, and their day ahead, maybe one of them is 'in on it'... who knows, as it was all Dutch to me. Gave up.