36 Details

Yeah,its like Heat.. over-rated!

Just like Michael Mann's (1995) popular De Niro and Pacino showdown 'Heat' .Not only in plot structure but also action-thriller seen-it-all-before cliches galore,lack of charm and subtlety,dearth of female characters,testosterone-pumped mono-dimensionality.For Pacino read Auteuil,(goodies) for De Niro read Depardieu(baddies)-these are four of the greatest actors in World Cinema of the last thirty years who bring ,light and shade, complexity ,brio and sheer panache to their many brilliant roles-yet here they're phoning in one-note performances.Maybe its not their fault ,for it's in the writing where character comes a poor second to action.I do not deny that the two films are well directed, inasmuch as the action cracks on at a rattling good pace and there are many satisfyingly violent bang-bangs for your buck.If that's all you want in a film,well....that's all you want in a film.Not my tasse de the,merci beaucoup.

[Highly rated reviewer]

A quality action thriller

Last night we finally got around to watching the highly thought of French subtitled thriller 36 and yet again a foreign film delivers much more than many of the big money Hollywood American cliché ridden action movies. 36 is dark and gritty, tense and entertaining throughout. 36 tells the story of two police units in the darker side of Paris and a tough and ruthless gang of armed robbers, but the plot does not stop there, 36 looks at the relationships between the two police units and the effects on surrounding characters of the ensuing power struggle between the two units. Ok so some of the cop movie clichés I mentioned above are still present, it’s almost inevitable considering the genre however the tension and realism levels in this French offering remain higher in our opinion. After a fairly slow start 36 picks up the pace and the simple but effective twists unravel intelligently into what is an entertaining but slightly predictable ending. The acting is of a good standard for the most part and the plot works well, my only negative would be that sometimes the subtitle move unnecessarily quickly off the screen, this is not often but enough to notice. In summary anyone who enjoys a quality action thriller and is prepared to watch a subtitled film should really enjoy. 8/10. 4 Stars.