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crime

Contraband * Baltasar Kormákur (2012)

For some reason I connected the title of this film with some near Eastern production. When I heard music from the trailer (without the images) I thought that it would be a hip near Eastern production. Unfortunately “Contraband” is just another Hollywood action thriller crime movie. John Bryce (Mark Wahlberg) is a top-notch ex-smuggler, but when his nephew mucks up a job of his own, John feels forced to take one more job to set the balance again. Of course things do not go as expected and a predictable story unfolds in which John has to take more extreme jobs to make right what went wrong. Just another Hollywood film, but of an Icelandic director.

Bellamy * Claude Chabrol (2009)

Oh boy, bad guess! The box said something about Dépardieux teaming up with “nouveau vague” pioneer Chabrol so in a hurry I thought that might be ‘watchworthy’. Well, “Bellamy” is just one of those detective/crime films like there are a few on TV every week. The acting is good and so is the camera-work, but the story is completely uninteresting and in total “Bellamy” is not much better than an episode of “Inspector Morse” or whatever all these series are called.

Bronson * Nicolas Winding Refn (2008)

Somebody knows my taste better than myself! I thought this film was about the film-actor Charles Bronson and therefor was not very high up on my priority list. In fact, “Bronson” is about a man who decided to become famous while being in prison. The larger part of his life, he spent behind bars, the prison he regarded as a hotel where he could optimise his techniques. Assaulting prison personnel (especially the swat teams) he soon got the name of being the most violent inmate in the UK. Bronson decided that this was not enough…
“Bronson” has a unique mix of elements making it a very original film. A Lynchian opening, theatre, a weird surrealistic atmosphere and pitch-black humour. The film is (in my opinion) not as violent as is sometimes suggested. In fact, there is more than one conformity with “Chopper” by Andrew Dominik in story. “Bronson” is more strange though.

Nobel Son * Randall Miller (2007)

Another hip MTVideo montage action/crime film. “Nobel Son” has a supposedly intelligent script that has a few strange twists, but goes completely nose-down at the end. The film is even quite confusing at times and not really convincing because way too many ideas and changes of the plot have been tried to stuff in it. The only real highlight of the film is the magnificent Alan Rickman as professor Eli Michaelson with a gigantic ego and an overload of arrogance. Just another hip film.

The Crew * Adrian Vitoria (2008)

I expected another British crime action comedy, but “The Crew” does not have the popular videoclip style of similar films. “The Crew” portrays the organised crime scene in Liverpool. The group mostly shown does not do drugs, but they rob trucks. They have a problem with the upcoming drugs/junkies groups and the more serious crime of Servians and Irishmen. Ged (the leader of one of the groups) wants to make his final hit and retreat, but of course things do not go as planned. “The Crew” is not as funny as the films of Guy Ritchie for example and certainly not as hip, but it is a descent film showing the dangers of earning money the criminal way. It has some (too) violent outbursts, but for the larger part “The Crew” is just a film with a descent story.

Loft * Erik van Looy (2008)

Loft“Loft” is a Flemish film about five friends who buy a “loft” (luxery appartment) where they can cheat on their wives. One day a dead body lays in bed. It takes a bit before the film starts to get rolling. The acting is not too convincing, but this gets better. The middle part of the film has a good story and a nice atmosphere, but at the end there are two shifts in the plot that makes all that came before no longer credible. Too bad, because with a few successfull police series, the Belgians have shown that they can write interesting stories and create a series that appeals to a large audience. “Loft” could have come in that tradition, but besides the good middle part, this is not really a good film.

L’Instinct De Mort * Jean-François Richet (2008)

I ran into this film as one of two DVDs together being one film with the title “Public Enemy Number One”, but the originals both have their own title, this one (“Instinct Of Death”) and “L’Ennemi Public n°1”. What you get is the life of Jacques Mesrine, a violent, but charismatic criminal who uses the media to boost his ego. With nice picture-in-picture montage at times, a story develops in which Vincent Cassel gives the kind of part he is good at. Mesrine mostly robs banks without making much victims, but when it comes to police, he has little mercy. He is caught a couple of times, but escapes which adds to his fame. Travelling all over the world without changing his name, making him famous all over the globe. Prison regimes are obviously not the same everywhere. The films is mostly a drama, but also has some amusing humour and violent outbursts. Not a very special film, but a nice watch nonetheless.

L’Ennemi Public n°1 * Jean-François Richet (2008)

The second part of “Public Enemy Number One” simply continues where the first part left off. Jacques Mesrine continues to play with the media, gets caught a few times more and escapes again, he runs into a new woman and meets his new partner. Also Mesrine starts to develop (semi-)political ideas and begins to see himself as a revolutionary. Nothing much changes compared the the first part, but the picture-in-picture effect is no longer used. The film ends the way the first part started. Also the second part is enjoyable, but I wonder why the whole story is stretched over two films.

Pusher * Nicolas Winding Refn (1996)

PusherMuch older than I thought. There are even parts II (2004) and 3 (2005) and an American remake (2007) of this film. Well… it is not that good. We see the drug-scene of København (Copenhagen, Denmark) with a “pusher”, his clients, suppliers, etc. Of course things do not go as planned, so we get a crime film with some action and humour. The film is mostly funny for its weird characters and the story is not even that bad for a film in this genre.

RocknRolla * Guy Ritchie (2008)

RocknRollaApparently I have not seen half of the films of Guy Ritchie, but I do know that “RocknRolla” is of the same breed as “Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels” and “Snatch”: a flashy crime comedy. “RocknRolla” is very typical for this kind of film. A maffioso-like rapid montaged intro, hip small crooks unknowingly dealing with the big guys, action and a lot of humour. There is nothing new about “RocknRolla”, even the story is almost the same as of “Lock Stock…”. Fortunately Ritchie has mixed the standard ingredients well and “RocknRolla” became an entertaining film.