‘LOST BULLET’ is a French action flick shown on Netflix that you should not miss if you love watching action-packed thrillers.
Searching for films on streaming channels that are truly worth watching is part of our adventure now while cooped up at home. We’ve started watching a lot of them but don’t bother to finish them when our interest wanes.
But “Lost Bullet” engrossed us from start to finish. It stars stuntman-actor Alban Lenoir in the lead role and he’s very good.
Netflix gives breaks to new, untested directors and this movie is the debut of Guillaume Pierret. It sure is pretty impressive for a first timer.
Alban is Lino, an ace mechanic who can work wonders for a car. To help his foster young brother, Quentin (Rod Paradot), pay his debts, he reinforces a Renault car so it can ram the walls of a jewelry store in a daring robbery.
He succeeds in getting through the entire store but when he’s about to get off, he cannot remove his seat belt so the cops get to arrest him while Quentin escapes.
In prison, his wizardry in engineering cars that he turns into veritable battering rams endears him to a cop, Charas (Ramzy Bedia), who heads an anti-drug enforcement unit.
Charas uses Lino’s modified cars in chasing and pursuing drug traffickers when they try to get away in their own modified souped up vehicles.
Lino tries to involve his brother in the police operation, but it turns out some crooked cops led by Areski (Nicolas Duvauchelle) are working against Charas. Areski shoots Charas dead in his Renault car and tries to pin the murder on the very trusting Lino who is then summarily arrested for a crime he didn’t commit.
In the police station, Lino tries to explain what really happened, but no one would believe him, so he fights for his life and manages to escape.
He can only clear his name if he would be able to get the lost bullet embedded in the car of Charas that would reveal the true identity of the murderer.
The film works because Lino has our total sympathy. It’s quickly established that he’s not really a bad guy.
He wants to steal only to help his brother and he develops a friendship with his mentor, Charas, as they share a common love for fast cars. Director Pierret then succeeds in staging some relentless edge-of-the seat action sequences.
Alban has the build and looks of an imposing action star reminiscent of the British Jason Statham. He looks intense and throws himself fearlessly into all the fight scenes where he really gets beaten up.
That lengthy sequence at the police station where he brutally battles several cops to escape from their custody is an astounding extended hand-to-hand fight scene using multiple cameras that is superbly edited.
The film’s climax shows a long chase scene in narrow streets where he uses a small car that he has converted into an assault vehicle.
The spectacular stunt where he rams a police car then goes through a police blockade of several cars in the middle of a highway is something U.S. action directors can use later in a bigger Hollywood production.
Pierret looks like he can step into the shoes of another Frenchman who made it big internationally, Luc Besson.
He shows how to expertly wreck some cars and mount physical action scenes to pull off an entertaining action flick that is quite well put together and is one heck of a heart-pounding ride.
The one and a half hour running time is just right and the pacing is very fast.
Even if you don’t speak French and hates films with subtitles, you’ll still enjoy this one.
The movie is left open for a sequel as the main villain is shown getting away with it. Maybe Lino will still have a final showdown with him in the sequel for some unfinished business.
