After the disastrous *Silent Night*, I had lost hope in John Woo’s career, and the announcement of a Parisian remake of one of his own films seemed totally odd. Surprisingly, I found some promise in the first 15-20 minutes. Mauro Fiore’s cinematography is well-crafted, and the film embraces a cheesy, cliché style—with slow-motion doves and the Eiffel Tower appearing in every third shot—that had a certain charm. But then it becomes clear that this is a streaming movie, and whatever the budget was, the result is shockingly poor. There’s very little action, and what action there is takes place mostly in indoor settings (like the well-known church). There’s a motorcycle chase in Paris, but it only lasts 30 seconds and clearly lacks the resources to be more impressive. Even the action scenes feel generic, with weak gunfights and only 15 seconds of satisfying Woo-style action at the climax.
What’s left is the outdated vibe of an aging John Woo making a mediocre B-movie, paying tribute to *Le Samouraï* (with the hat reference) and 70s gangster cinema (there’s something decent in Marco Beltrami’s soundtrack). Otherwise, the film is basic at best. The characters are poorly developed, whether it’s Omar Sy’s Inspector Sey or Nathalie Emmanuel as the not-so-charismatic assassin. The script is predictable, the drug plot is unengaging, and the film feels like a budget version of *John Wick*, which knew how to use its Parisian setting. It’s hard not to think of David Fincher’s movie of the same name, which is on an entirely different level.
I didn’t find it unpleasant, and it’s less of a failure than *Silent Night* (which at least had a stronger concept), but it’s pointless, lacking the original’s violent lyricism, and feels small and cheap.
Rating: 1-2/6.
