As the title would suggest, THE SWEENEY: Paris is a straightforward remake of the British crime film THE SWEENEY, starring Ray Winstone. I didn't like the British version because of the direction by Nick Love, which I thought was entirely lacklustre. The good news is that THE SWEENEY: Paris is much better, with a tighter script and much better-directed action scenes.
The story is nothing new and merely involves the usual cops and robbers stuff, with three big set-pieces dotted amid the story. Said set-pieces are gloriously violent, with massive shoot-outs on the scale of HEAT and some aggressive hand-to-hand combat thrown into the mix too. It's definitely a film for those of us who enjoy watching bad guys getting their heads smashed in with baseball bats.
The lead role is taken by the aged-but-still-got-it Jean Reno, who is a delight and much better than Winstone was. Reno is well supported by an engaging cast that includes a nice role for Caterina Murino, once a Bond girl and still deeply attractive after the passage of years. The other characters seem to have better depth than usual for the genre too. THE SWEENEY: Paris has the edge over the last French action thriller I watched, RABID DOGS.
The story is nothing new and merely involves the usual cops and robbers stuff, with three big set-pieces dotted amid the story. Said set-pieces are gloriously violent, with massive shoot-outs on the scale of HEAT and some aggressive hand-to-hand combat thrown into the mix too. It's definitely a film for those of us who enjoy watching bad guys getting their heads smashed in with baseball bats.
The lead role is taken by the aged-but-still-got-it Jean Reno, who is a delight and much better than Winstone was. Reno is well supported by an engaging cast that includes a nice role for Caterina Murino, once a Bond girl and still deeply attractive after the passage of years. The other characters seem to have better depth than usual for the genre too. THE SWEENEY: Paris has the edge over the last French action thriller I watched, RABID DOGS.