L'immortel

I have to say I'm not a fan of Besson's productions, but this one is a good surprise. If you're looking for a very clever plot, forget it. But if you want to enjoy beautiful views of the glorious city of Marseille and have a thrill at the gangster's atmosphere it used to live in, this is the one. Jean Reno is solid like usual, Kad Merad -such a good actor- doesn't find his comfort zone in the bad guy, Marina Fois is brilliant, what on earth is Richard Berry doing in his own movie where his role has no impact? Overall a good moment, not Borsalino or French connection, but i definitely recommend it. If you want to see more of this mysterious city, try to locate the following titles: Comme un aimant, Taxi, Un ange, FC 1 and 2, Borsalino 1 and 2, movies with Raimu...

Jean Renos character would probably not even smile at 50 Cents near-death experience. That wouldn't even be considered a scratch in his book. But apart from this (useless?) trivia, there is so much that you can find in this movie. Jean Renos characterization for once. The story and the other characters too.

Of course you could say that this is romanticising an evil person a bit. But then again, this is a movie. You cannot try and apply rules of real life to it. Other movies with criminals involved might have been worse in that regard. And after all, there are experiences in life, that are truly life-changing. And if what Renos character has gone through does not count, what else does?

It's not all drama though, there is a good portion of action to be found here. And very well shot (no pun) and acted out. The end could not have been any other. At least not for me. Highly recommended

I have to admit that 22 Bullets is quite a bit more violent than I'm comfortable with; bursts, yes but this revenge thriller starring the venerable Jean Reno is fairly constant, unrelenting and rather ugly.

Yes, it's certificate 18 and is about mobsters, current and ex, slaughtering each other, so I shouldn't be surprised and of course, I could have turned it off. But, it's quite a good movie, quite a long one at a whisker under two hours and so I stuck it out. My three stars is not altered by feelings on this aspect.

Reno, as Charly Mattei is reliably grizzled and back in his native language, does not suffer the stumbling block he had with the English language that he did when he made films in the U.S. Here, he's natural and believable - not exactly likable but it's impossible not to side with him when he stalks his enemies. There's a pretty high body count, accompanied by some very realistic looking wounds, that really aren't very attractive to look at! The make-up department did well, here.

The music has a big part to play in creating the tone, often thunderous and pounding and along with often frenetic camera-work, the film's undeniably jolting and exciting, though those prone to suffering one may well get a migraine as bad as the one that one of the mobsters did.

There are a good number of reviews for this title that outline plot details. I'm going to leave that out - people don't need to read that over again.

All in all, it's a solid movie on a familiar theme, quite involved with some exciting action and stunts. Reno is very good, as all the actors are. If you like your thrillers full-blood and graphically violent, then this could well be an excellent rental or DVD purchase. Me - it's not my favourite and will leave it at that.

I went to this movie in Sneak Preview, otherwise I probably would not have gone to watch it. The thought of watching a two hour thing about a French mafioso (do they even have Mafia in France?) who survives 22 bullets and then goes on a rampage of revenge, just doesn't appeal to me...

I'm going to have to admit that the movie wasn't really that bad though. There were some nice (and also brutal) scenes and Jean Reno was his usual steady self, nothing spectacular, but not bad either... overall the acting wasn't too bad. Not outstanding either, but given the fact that there are a lot of French nobody's in the film, (no disrespect intended!) that was a pleasant surprise.

However, there were too many cliché's in this movie to make it anything more than amusing. The whole story was very predictable, with no unexpected plot twists or anything spectacular that will make it memorable.

Conclusion: If you wanna lay back and watch an entertaining movie, this is probably one for you. However, if you are looking for a little more depth, pass on this one. It's not like you haven't seen this before...

I discovered this movie in a DVD store in South of France and after I watched the trailer and read the critics I gave it a try.

Well it is very interesting to see Kad Merad and Jean Reno in this underground thriller of the Marseillais mafia. I saw for the first time Kad Merad in a bad guy role and he played this one very convincing. Then Jean Reno was as usual great.

Director Richard Berry created here a fast paced thriller that was never boring. The pictures around Marseille and the sea were wonderful. The only thing I missed was that the story is told rather superficially. The act of revenges could have been executed variously than all the time in the same way.

My vote with my wife is a 7/10 because all in all it's another example how with a low budget a solid popcorn movie can be done. French movies are the best in Europe so far and sometimes even better than the other average Hollywood productions.