Bastille Day Review: If you’re in the market for a popcorn action-flick then this is the new release for you.
Bastille Day review by Kat Hughes. Idris Elba takes time off from voice acting duties in favour of James Watkins’ French set spy action thriller.
Bastille Day Review
Bastille Day stars Idris Elba as risk-taking CIA agent Sean Briar, operating out of France. After his team get intel of a terrorist cell with plans of an attack to take place in Paris on the national holiday that is Bastille Day (hence the title), he kicks into overdrive to do everything he can to stop it.
Also in the city is American con-artist Michael Mason (Game of Thrones’ Richard Madden), who after unknowingly stealing a bomb, becomes the number one suspect. In a bid to clear his name and get his freedom back, Mason finds himself with no choice but to help Briar find his bad guys.
Madden and Elba work together well and once introduced to each other the film takes on a strange ‘buddy cop’ vibe – think Lethal Weapon; this is a spy action thriller that enjoys a laugh or two. The only distracting thing about the pair is that both are English actors playing Americans in France, it’s a little disorientating. Why not have had Briar as an MI6 agent, or would that have been too close to Bond?
Bastille Day Review
Speaking of Bond, for years now people have been saying that Idris Elba should be the next James Bond and Bastille Day could be seen as the perfect calling card / audition for the role. That being said though, his character Sean Briar isn’t quite as magnetic as Bond and is much more Jack Bauer in temperament.
Madden too gets his time to shine, although his time in the spotlight doesn’t involve throwing that many punches. His character Mason is a Vegas-born con-artist and pick-pocket, and we get to see his skills showcased multiple times. Whilst there is a scene in a bar wherein Mason causes brilliantly executed pandemonium to try and secure information as to the whereabouts of a member of the terror cell, it is the other pick-pocket scenes that really hit home just how easy it is. You’ll be keeping a better hold on your belongings from here on out as, unlike a lot of the film, this is something that could and does actually happen.
The action set pieces are great; the rooftop pursuit of Mason by Briar, which is glimpsed in the trailer, is gritty and gutsy, not one for those without a head for heights. However it is a fight sequence between the pair and several of the bad guys in the back of a riot van that really steals the show. Finally we have a fight in a moving vehicle wherein the actions of the van’s movements impact of those fighting in the back. The fighters are thrown side to side, knocked off balance and have a thoroughly hard time depending on how tight a road-turn is. It’s a truly spectacular sequence and it easily rivals that Skyfall train battle.
Given the type of film that Bastille Day is, sadly it is the plot that lets it down. There are several plot points and characters that seemly just disappear or aren’t sufficiently developed, everything is also a little too convenient for our heroes. Additionally, as usual in the genre, our bad guys are the worst shots in the world when it comes to taking out the hero; everyone else is dead instantly, but somehow they can’t lock a shot on either Mason or Briar, even with a semi-automatic.
Overall, this is the French-set action film that Luc Besson has been trying to make for years. Where he has failed, James Watkins has succeeded in creating a quirky little action movie that isn’t afraid to have fun with itself.
Bastille Day review by Kat Hughes, April 2016.
Bastille Day is released in U.K. cinemas on April 22nd, 2016.
