22 Bullets

Both in the million-selling "Welcome to the Sch`tis", as well as in the adorable children's film "The Little Nick", France's successful comedian Kad Merad has also made movie audiences laugh in this country. But now, alongside Jean Reno, he can show a completely different side in the thriller "22Bullets", which will leave the audience laughing.

The Mafioso Charly Matteï (Jean Reno) has actually come to terms with his past and is now trying to lead a life as a blameless citizen and family man. But he must painfully learn that there are professions from which one cannot simply retire. In a parking garage in Marseille, he is struck down with 22 bullets by a hit squad. But Charly miraculously survives - knowing full well who he has to thank for this cowardly attack. He doesn't share his suspicions with the dedicated detective Marie Goldmann (Marina Foïs), who is assigned to the case. Rather, he waits until he is well enough to see to it himself that the person behind the attempt on his life is brought to justice - an endeavor for which he must admittedly renounce his self-imposed nonviolence...

"22 Bullets" is a tough, no-frills thriller that, while telling a fictional story, is based on actual people and events. Loosely based on a novel by Franz-Olivier Giesbert, Richard Berry, who also enjoys great popularity as an actor in his native France, has made his fourth directorial effort a gripping story about a man who wants to let go of his past but keeps getting caught up in it. Jean Reno plays the retired Mafioso with sovereign toughness, is both a sympathetic figure and a threatening one. But the character of Charly's former crony, mobster Tony Zacchia, played by Kad Merad, is also a multi-layered character whose extreme mood swings are superbly brought to the screen by Merad. At times he is the supposedly warm-hearted buddy, the charming businessman, then again the choleric, brutal and ice-cold gangster. Thanks to such portrayals, "22 Bullets" has become more than just a simple mafia or revenge thriller.

As a counterpoint to the sometimes quite drastic depiction of violence, the truly beautiful city of Marseille functions, though Berry avoids showing typically touristy images of the city. Rather, he also shows the ugly sides of the city, but even that is not too forced, so that overall a quite authentic image is created, in which the events can be even more intense.

In the end, "22 Bullets" does not reinvent the genre, but goes its way so consistently, hard and mercilessly, that despite many familiar set pieces, an enormous arc of tension is built, whose intensity remains unbroken until the end. A great acted and intensely staged gangster thriller, which can be recommended to fans of the subject. Worth seeing

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp