Balle perdue 2

Let's be crystal. Lost Bullet was a pretty good film. It had a plot that included a beginning, a middle, and an end. It had explosive action scenes. Good acting. Checked all the boxes. This is a sequel to Lost Bullet released a few years after the fact. It is not a very satisfying watch. First, it seems to literally take place the day after the first film ended, requiring the viewer to remember all the details of the first film. In other words, it starts with a flash quiz, like you were back in high school. There is no obvious plot for the first half of the film, but there is an awful lot of action and emotion and fighting. If you wondered in without knowing the story, you might think you were watching a Kung Fu film, in French, produced in France. With no Asian characters. If all the above appeals to you, grab a chair. Otherwise take a pass. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

Its a decent enough seqaul but one big problem with this film is that its inconsistant. This film ignores the end of the first and for that reason almost makes this its own movie. Lino is still trying to find the killer of his brother. He gets the keys back to the garage and finds his beat up red car. Cue just one year later and its a nice blue shade with a new ram on front. He takes it upon himself to arrest the man but most of the film and the actual enjoyment of the film is one big car chase whose scenes were the best thing here. Its a decent enough seqaul even if a little flat but good acting.

I will assume that anybody intending to watch this film will have seen the original; if not it won't make too much sense as no time is wasted introducing characters or their situation. Protagonist Lino is still determined to capture the corrupt former policeman responsible for the death of his mentor. Unfortunately for him others are less keen. Senior officers want to offer him a deal to bring down corrupt senior officers still in the force and those corrupt officers want to kill him. If Lino is to get justice he will have to face more danger; mostly behind the wheel of his mentor's heavily modified Renault 21.

If you enjoyed the first film, as I did, this is definitely worth watching. The plot may be fairly threadbare but it serves to give lots of thrilling action... and that is what the film is all about. The action is mostly in cars with a chase through oncoming traffic, another through what appears to be a storm drain and several impressive collisions and other crashes. This is all very impressive with minimal obvious special effects. There are also a good number of fight scenes. Usually in such a film one never really feels the protagonist might be in real danger but here that is not the case; especially in a later fight scene. The action is solid, as is the direction. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of Euro-action, just remember to watch the first movie before watching this.

These comments are based on watching the film in French with English subtitles.

There was certainly a lot more happening with the action and suspense, but I found the story had too many inconsistencies and kept bouncing between pot holes and ridiculousness in the narrative. It's like the writers couldn't decide if Lino should be the antagonist or protagonist. Plus the entire narrative was really unfocused and didn't build much from the first film, and it seemed they were aiming for a more Fast and Furious ridiculousness feel; the action was a little too phony and overboard. Nevertheless, the action was choreographed well, all casting and performances spot-on, and the great pacing made the 98 min runtime fly by. Hopefully if there's a third installment, we'll get the continuation that will actually include Areski for more than a few minutes.

Couldn't ask for more from a sequel to a great action movie. This trims out all the fat from the original and just focuses on a revenge story that works incredibly well. Not exactly great when it comes to the story department, but that's not the point, the performances are believable and entrancing, and where the fun lies in the fantastic action sequences. You have the usual fistfights that are incredibly well done, but with the original having that amazing long fistfight sequence in the police station, this goes in the complete opposite direction and goes over the top with the car chase sequences. You have the main character putting electric spikes on his car and putting those spikes under the bumper of other cars, and sending them exploding into the air, all done with mostly practical effects. The pacing is excellent and it is non-stop and captivating, these movies aren't gonna set the world on fire (pun intended) but they are necessary for today's cinematic landscape, practically done action movies with simple plots that are around 90 minutes, what more could you ask for?