22 Bullets | Film review

Philip French

Saturday, 04 Sep 2010

Philip French enjoys a tough French thriller about a principled gangster who survives an assassination attempt

Based on a true story, though much indebted to Coppola's The Godfather, this tough French thriller (aka L'Immortel) begins with principled gangster Charly Matteï (Jean Reno), surviving the eponymous 22 bullets he takes in a Marseilles car park and setting out to avenge himself on the unprincipled rival who arranged the assassination. The 60-year-old Berry is no stranger to the policier (he appeared in La Balance, one of my favourite French crime movies of the past 30 years) and here plays a fellow gangster and directs with a firm, no-nonsense hand.

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Philip French

Philip French

Saturday, 04 Sep 2010

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