Last Bullet movie review: The Alban Lenoir starrer treats action as a spectacle sport

Stills from the film

Cast: Alban Lenoir, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Stéfi Celma
Director: Guillaume Pierret
Rating: 2.5/5
Runtime: 111 m

Guillaume Pierret's action saga ‘Last Bullet' is supposedly the third and final chapter of the Balle Perdue franchise. The first two installments were well received so there was some positive anticipation going in for this sequel.

The recap establishes that ex-con/super mechanic Lino (Alban Lenoir) has been hellbent on avenging the death of Charas. Charas, was apparently gunned down in the first intallment ‘Lost Bullet.' The man who pulled the trigger, Areski/Joris (Nicolas Duvauchelle) has been able to evade the authorities for two whole movies and ‘Last Bullet' basically picks up on the revenge theme, two years after the events of ‘Lost Bullet 2.'

Areski, though slippery as an eel, is still under the thumb of the crooked Commander Resz (Gérard Lanvin). Resz is looking to tie up loose ends that could hamper his promotion to Narcotics Commander so Areski is on a slippery wicket. At the start of the film Areski is shown as managing to outsmart Resz' hit squad…but can he hold out long?

Alban Lenoir comes back to reprise the lead role as Lino, even though in ‘Lost Bullet 2' there were broad hints that he may have perished. The story is that Spanish authorities had Lino in custody, and he is now being handed over to French authorities headed by Commander Resz.

Surprisingly, once in France, Resz releases Lino and he is able to reunite with his former teammate, Julia (Stéfi Celma). Lino has plans to move to Barcelona and work at a garage there. Julia's mechanic friend Sarah(Julie Tedesco), who has Charas' Renault 21,may be the means for Lino who wants to fix up the R21 and drive that to his new life in Barcelona. But Lino is not the only one enquiring about the R21.

‘Lost Bullet' may be illogical, with uninteresting characters and a plot that drags on unnecessarily but the action sequences are first rate. They are crisp, violent, smoothly orchestrated and that makes the film fairly entertaining for most of the runtime.

Lino has an action-packed showdown replete with several twists, betrayals and chases. Hand-to-hand combat, Cars flying off, going boom, blowing up and crashing into each other - are fun to watch. Guillaume Pierret eye for action choreography is unblemished.

The first action set piece with bikes, cars and trucks and a body crashing out of a truck's windshield, gets you excited. Editor Sophie Fourdrinoy's quick cuts charge up the experience. Pierret entertains but fails to elevate the proceedings creatively. It's not something we havn't seen before.

Alban Lenoir, in an entirely physical combative role continues to be the typical action hero -a brooding protagonist with a demeanour to match. Since ‘Last Bullet' is the last of the franchise it manages to tie up all the loose ends before engaging us in an all out action set-piece finale.