The health care assistant Samuel Pierret (Gilles Lellouche) goes with his pregnant wife Nadia Cortez (Elena Anaya) to the doctor that recommends a complete rest for Nadia for the next weeks. Samuel will be promoted to nurse very soon and he is very happy.

When he is working in the night shift, a man tries to kill the patient Hugo Sartet (Roschdy Zem),who had been wounded by a motorcycle while chased by two men. However, Samuel uses the adequate medical procedure and saves the man. On the next morning, he is proud of his accomplishment and telling Nadia at home when he is attacked by a stranger. When he wakes-up, he receives a phone call from the stranger telling that Nadia has been abducted and he needs to remove Hugo from the hospital until midday, otherwise she will be murdered.

The police department is divided by the squads of Detective Patrick Werner (Gérard Lanvin),who is investigating the murder of the millionaire Francis Meyer, and Detective Catherine Fabre (Mireille Perrier),who is in charge of the case in the hospital, and the groups have an internal dispute. Samuel rescues Hugo and is hunted by the Detective Fabre on the streets. When Samuel is ready to trade Hugo for Nadia, they are hunted by two armed men and Samuel and Hugo runs to a safe house. Samuel calls Detective Fabre and when she arrives, she is murdered by Werner and his detectives. Sooner Samuel learns that Werner's team is corrupt and now he needs Hugo to save his wife.

This is the second film directed by Fred Cavayé that I have recently seen and both are great full of action thrillers. They have similar story lines, with a common man forced to an extreme act to save his beloved wife, and pursuits through the streets of Paris. But the stories are engaging and different from each other.

I hope that Hollywood does not destroy this plot with a remake the same way this industry did with "Pour Elle". Further, I am looking forward to see his next work. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "À Queima Roupa" ("Point Blank")

Point Blank (2010)

Not to be confused with the semi-classic 1967 movie of the same title with Lee Marvin, this is not a remake or an echo of that. What this French action thriller is fits another category--the non-stop kinetic run from the bad-guys film, which has become a kind of staple. Think the Bourne movies, or a couple later Liam Neeson films, where the hero gets himself into a terrible situation that requires running and running and running.

And that's enough, in a way, because you can't stop looking. There are no lulls. In fact, some of the moments have such kinetic surprise to them they deserve study. Your stomach will turn. Don't expect a big rationale. Don't even quite expect to care for anything except that our main man, and his wife, survive the ordeal. There are crosses and double-crosses. There is horrid abuse of women which I could do without (the rationale might just be the perils of Pauline kind of thing, saving her with the handsome male to the rescue, but it's just plain abusive). There is one female cop who is a great tough archetype. And lots of bad violent men.

But, truly, none of this is meant to matter. You just grab onto the handles and don't let go. It's really really well made, visually, the camera-work and editing taking front seat. I'd see it on the biggest screen you can, since that's where it's all at.

I think you should know up front that I am NOT the intended audience for "Point Blank" and my score of 6 might just reflect that. I am not a big fan of violent films nor, especially, do I enjoy films which are non-stop action movies. I am not saying they're bad...but I don't enjoy them. I can respect "Point Blank" but didn't exactly love it...which isn't a huge surprise. I mostly watched it because I enjoy French films.

The film begins with a violent chase scene. A man has been shot and then, unexpectedly, get hit by a car. It's almost impossible to imagine a guy surviving this...let along running about like an action hero for most of the film...and that's why I knocked a few points off the movie right off the bat. This just didn't make sense and he was NOT a Terminator!!

Anyway, back to the film. While the guy is in intensive care, someone tries to kill him--slicing his respirator hose. Fortunately for him, a nurse's aid discovers this and saves him. As payment for his good deed, some folks knock him senseless and then kidnap his very pregnant wife. Then he gets a message that he must sneak this injured guy out of the hospital...which he does. What follows is a long series of chase scenes, fights, shootings and pretty much everything else they could cram into the film. Again, much of it is done by a guy who only minutes before was in ICU...clinging to life.

Perhaps you'll enjoy it. The action is gripping and the film is non-stop. I just thought it sometimes just didn't make a lot of sense.