"Suspenseful Rescue Action"
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What You Need To Know:
POINT BLANK is very solid and fast-paced and builds tension very well. Samuel’s motivation to save his family provides a good emotional arc and strong moral elements. However, there’s some strong foul language and strong violence, including graphic murders. Also spoiling things are the rogue police squad, some positive depiction of criminals and one cross-dresser. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution for POINT BLANK.
HEADLINE: ** Suspenseful Rescue Action **
Title: POINT BLANK (A Bout Portant)
Quality: * * * Acceptability: -2
SUBTITLES: In French with English subtitles
WARNING CODES:
Language: LL
Violence: VVV
Sex: S
Nudity: N
RATING: Not Rated
RELEASE: July 22, 2011
TIME: 91 minutes
STARRING: Gilles Lellouche, Roschdy Zem, Gerard Lanvin, Elena Anaya, Mireille Perrier, Clair Perot
DIRECTOR: Fred Cavaye
PRODUCERS: Cyril Colbeau-Justin, Jean-Baptiste Dupont
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: David Giordano
WRITERS: Fred Cavaye, Guillaume Lemans
BASED ON THE NOVEL/PLAY BY: N/A
DISTRIBUTOR: Magnolia Pictures
CONTENT: (BB, C, HoHo, Pa, LL, VVV, S, N, A, D, MM) Strong moral worldview with some elements of sacrifice as husband tries to save his wife but works with criminal to stop corrupt, rogue police squad, with homosexual element of one gratuitous transvestite character, and pagan elements where some criminals and murderers are depicted in a positive moral light while others are portrayed negatively, and dirty police officers work with criminals and murder civilians; 16 obscenities, no profanities; brief very strong violence and some strong violence includes chase sequences, man hit by motorcyclist, people are shot and murdered in stomach, in head, in chest, punching, kicking, criminals shoot police officers, brief torturous interrogation, two women (one of whom is pregnant) fight in a very brutal battle, bludgeoning, person stabbed in eye; no sex scenes or similar crude content but discussion of woman’s pregnancy with doctors and married kissing; nudity includes pregnant woman’s belly is shown during ultrasound, upper male nudity, rear male nudity and man in underwear; wine depicted; cigarette use throughout movie; and, lying, blackmail, threats, kidnapping and torturing a pregnant woman, crooked police officers, criminal impersonates police officer, and conspiracy to frame an innocent man.
GENRE: Action Thriller
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Older teenagers and adults
REVIEWER: Dallas Amsden
REVIEW: POINT BLANK is a taut, action-filled, French thriller about an innocent male nurse driven to desperate measures when his pregnant wife is kidnapped and held for ransom until he breaks a dangerous criminal out of his Intensive Care ward.
Samuel, a nurse at the local hospital, and his wife Nadia are expecting their first child in just a few short weeks. He’s also up for a promotion in the ICU.
One night, a dangerous criminal with a gunshot wound, Hugo Sartet, is brought into the hospital in police custody. Samuel attends to Sartet’s wounds and moves on to the next patient. That is, until someone makes an attempt on Sartet’s life. Samuel stops the murder attempt, but the assassin gets away.
The next day, Samuel comes home to his wife but is attacked by an assailant. When he wakes, Samuel receives a call. His wife has been taken hostage. The caller also says, if Samuel wants to see her again, he must break Sartet out of the hospital.
Samuel does as he’s instructed but finds himself on the run from police who believe he’s part of Sartet’s criminal organization. Sartet turns the tables on the hapless nurse and begrudgingly agrees to help Samuel, if Samuel will, in turn, help Sartet take down a faction of rogue police officers responsible for killing his brother and framing him for a crime he didn’t commit.
Together, the two unlikely partners must navigate the city while evading the police, rival gangsters and a squad of dirty cops, who are all trying to take them down. Amid all of the chaos, Samuel must also find a way to clear his name and rescue his wife and unborn child.
POINT BLANK is a very solid action movie. The story is streamlined without too many convoluted plot lines, and the tension builds very well throughout the movie. The action is fast-paced and exciting, it doesn’t rely on special effects or CGI – a welcome return to live-action, stunts-driven, chase movies. Samuel’s motivation to save his wife and unborn child gives the movie heart and a good emotional arc.
The movie does contain some strong foul language as well as strong action violence, including some graphic murders. It has a strong moral emphasis on heroism and sacrifice, but is marred by rogue police officers, some positive depiction of criminals and one brief transvestite character that’s totally unnecessary to the story. Older, more mature audience members who enjoy good action thrillers may enjoy POINT BLANK, but media-wise audiences members may seek out less violent, more positive entertainment.
Please address your comments to:
Bill Banowski, CEO, Magnolia Pictures (Magnet Releasing)
1614 West 5th St.
Austin, TX 78703
Eamon Bowles, President, Magnolia Pictures
43 West 27th St., 7th Floor
New York, NY 10001
Phone: (212) 924-6701; Fax: (212) 924-6742
Website: www.magpictures.com; Email: info@ magpictures.com
SUMMARY: POINT BLANK is a taut, action-filled French thriller about a male nurse who must help a wounded criminal in order to save his kidnapped wife, who’s pregnant with their first child. POINT BLANK is very solid and fast-paced, with strong moral elements, but there’s also some strong foul language, strong violence, a minor cross-dressing character, and a corrupt squad of policemen who work with criminals and murder civilians, so extreme caution is advised for POINT BLANK.
IN BRIEF:
POINT BLANK is a taut, action-filled French thriller. Samuel’s a hospital nurse. His wife, Nadia, is expecting their first child in a few weeks. One night, a dangerous wounded criminal is brought into the hospital in police custody. Samuel attends to the criminal’s wounds until someone makes an attempt on the man’s life. Samuel stops the murder, but the assassin gets away. The next day, Samuel is attacked coming home and receives a call when he wakes. His wife has been taken hostage. If Samuel wants to see her again, he must break the criminal out of the hospital. He does so, but now he has to clear his name, help the criminal expose a corrupt squad of police officers AND rescue his wife and unborn baby.
POINT BLANK is very solid and fast-paced and builds tension very well. Samuel’s motivation to save his family provides a good emotional arc and strong moral elements. However, there’s some strong foul language and strong violence, including graphic murders. Also spoiling things are the rogue police squad, some positive depiction of criminals and one cross-dresser. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution for POINT BLANK.
Content:
(BB, C, HoHo, Pa, LL, VVV, S, N, A, D, MM) Strong moral worldview with some elements of sacrifice as husband tries to save his wife but works with criminal to stop corrupt, rogue police squad, with homosexual element of one gratuitous transvestite character, and pagan elements where some criminals and murderers are depicted in a positive moral light while others are portrayed negatively, and dirty police officers work with criminals and murder civilians; 16 obscenities, no profanities; brief very strong violence and some strong violence includes chase sequences, man hit by motorcyclist, people are shot and murdered in stomach, in head, in chest, punching, kicking, criminals shoot police officers, brief torturous interrogation, two women (one of whom is pregnant) fight in a very brutal battle, bludgeoning, person stabbed in eye; no sex scenes or similar crude content but discussion of woman’s pregnancy with doctors and married kissing; nudity includes pregnant woman’s belly is shown during ultrasound, upper male nudity, rear male nudity and man in underwear; wine depicted; cigarette use throughout movie; and, lying, blackmail, threats, kidnapping and torturing a pregnant woman, crooked police officers, criminal impersonates police officer, and conspiracy to frame an innocent man.
More Detail:
POINT BLANK is a taut, action-filled, French thriller about an innocent male nurse driven to desperate measures when his pregnant wife is kidnapped and held for ransom until he breaks a dangerous criminal out of his Intensive Care ward.
Samuel, a nurse at the local hospital, and his wife Nadia are expecting their first child in just a few short weeks. He’s also up for a promotion in the ICU.
One night, a dangerous criminal with a gunshot wound, Hugo Sartet, is brought into the hospital in police custody. Samuel attends to Sartet’s wounds and moves on to the next patient. That is, until someone makes an attempt on Sartet’s life. Samuel stops the murder attempt, but the assassin gets away.
The next day, Samuel comes home to his wife but is attacked by an assailant. When he wakes, Samuel receives a call. His wife has been taken hostage. The caller also says, if Samuel wants to see her again, he must break Sartet out of the hospital.
Samuel does as he’s instructed but finds himself on the run from police who believe he’s part of Sartet’s criminal organization. Sartet turns the tables on the hapless nurse and begrudgingly agrees to help Samuel, if Samuel will, in turn, help Sartet take down a faction of rogue police officers responsible for killing his brother and framing him for a crime he didn’t commit.
Together, the two unlikely partners must navigate the city while evading the police, rival gangsters and a squad of dirty cops, who are all trying to take them down. Amid all of the chaos, Samuel must also find a way to clear his name and rescue his wife and unborn child.
POINT BLANK is a very solid action movie. The story is streamlined without too many convoluted plot lines, and the tension builds very well throughout the movie. The action is fast-paced and exciting, it doesn’t rely on special effects or CGI – a welcome return to live-action, stunts-driven, chase movies. Samuel’s motivation to save his wife and unborn child gives the movie heart and a good emotional arc.
The movie does contain some strong foul language as well as strong action violence, including some graphic murders. It has a strong moral emphasis on heroism and sacrifice, but is marred by rogue police officers, some positive depiction of criminals and one brief transvestite character that’s totally unnecessary to the story. Older, more mature audience members who enjoy good action thrillers may enjoy POINT BLANK, but media-wise audiences members may seek out less violent, more positive entertainment.
