davideo-2 STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday MorningDetective Mattei (Daniel Auteuil) is on the trail of Vincent Kaminski (Mathieu Kassovitz) a rooftop sniper who took out a bunch of police officers while a daring bank robbery was in progress. But as he digs deeper in to the case, he uncovers even more dark, disturbing secrets.It always seems to be the case that the continentals seem to make the better quality films, in terms of writing and general production values, and if their market doesn't get the best exposure, it certainly receives the greatest critical acclaim and there are quite a few who want to imitate it. They seem to come up with all the original ideas, that's for sure, and that's something Hollywood certainly can't claim. This familiar truth may be the case with The Lookout, even if it's not maybe the best example, perhaps.It's an intricate, absorbing thriller, quite faultless but still unremarkable, but you can't help but get the feeling that someone, sometime will try and do it again. ***

medjai27 To some extent, the previous posted reviews demonstrate an attempt to save the movie from a harsh criticism. The movie indeed gathers a general vote of 5 out of 10. Sadly, this is justified. You could say the actors are well directed, which is true. D. Auteuil does a smart job, N. Kassovitz is well managed. Also, the bank robbing scene pompously shown in the trailer is intense. Finally the global scenery in Paris is a well depicted. These elements however are not sufficient to make a movie worth a watch - or worth a better vote - without a story. The numerous inconsistencies do not help. I won't unveil any spoiler, but you will ask yourself oh so many times about the storyline being so lazily drawn up, and about the characters' conduct; and you will feel cheated as well. This movie indeed resorts way too much to ellipsis to avoid explanation when it does not simply goes against any obvious choice that a reasonable man would make. And forget about the trailer and the first scene: le guetteur (the sniper) is not a sharpshooter movie, neither is it about the psychology of these type of soldier. It is an excuse to develop a police investigation out of nowhere, on which you will probably still ask yourself how it came up at the end credits.

writers_reign What's better than one French policier? Answer: another French policier. If this falls slightly below recent efforts like 36, Quai des Orfevres, it's still far from chopped liver. Daniel Auteuil, packing a tad more weight than of late - possibly for his role of Cesar in the great Pagnol trilogy that he is remaking even as we speak, both directing and taking on the role created by the immortal Raimu - plays the vigilante cop determined to catch the sniper who took out half his squad. He tells us this in an ultimately meaningless opening sequence when he has the sniper in an interview room. We then cut back to two days previously when Auteuil had his squad waiting to catch a gang of bank robbers red- handed. They would have done, too, had it not been for the sniper, Kominsky, who picked off the cops from a rooftop. After this things get a tad convoluted and if it weren't for stiffs piling up we may well wonder who is doing all the coming and going. It's shot in a drab non- color color with blue the predominant shade which suits the downbeat tone. Worth a look.

GUENOT PHILIPPE I enjoyed this french action packed thriller. I would say it is a strange film, weird. Not because of the acting or directing, but because of the story itself. When the movie begins, you can't guess what's going to happen next. No way. There are many subplots and also sub characters. and some sequences seem have been let on the cutting room floor. Some lines sound strange; for instance, what the hell a character like Oilivier Gourmet's one - a sadist - would have done with the hoods who capture Mathieu Kassovitz, just before Francis Renaud saves him?It remains unexplained...Yes, I consider this is a weird film, but I like this. This is unusual. I love this kind of story lines.The ending is rather exciting but although predictable.I guess the director was influenced by Jean Pierre Melville, he picked Bourvil's character's name from LE CERCLE ROUGE - commissaire Matteï. Daniel Auteuil's character is interesting in his hopeless quest of vengeance.A bittersweet film that deserves to be watched.