[Movie Review] ‘Bastille Day’ is mercifully short

The duo in "Bastille Day." (Shaw Organisation)
The duo in "Bastille Day." (Shaw Organisation)

Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket prices? If you like France.

Score: 2.1/5

Secret ending? No.

Running time: 92 minutes (~1.5 hours)

Idris Elba is Sean Briar in "Bastille Day." (Shaw Organisation)
Idris Elba is Sean Briar in “Bastille Day.” (Shaw Organisation)

“Bastille Day” is an action movie about a con man and a CIA agent who are forced to team up. When terrorists threaten to strike on Bastille Day in Paris, their unlikely alliance is all that stands between peace and terror. It stars Idris Elba (Sean Briar), Richard Madden (Michael Mason), Charlotte Le Bon (Zoe Neville), Kelly Reilly (Karen Dacre), and Jose Garcia (Victory Gamieux). It is rated NC-16.

“Bastille Day” feels like it was made for the sake of making a film with Idris Elba and Richard Madden. There’s an effort to construct a story, and the action sequences are pretty good, but the film doesn’t have an actual reason for being there. It feels like a factory made product that’s produced to cash in on the popularity of the two stars. It lacks the heart necessary to be a good, or even decent movie, and it shows.

Sean Briar and Michael Mason (Richard Madden) in "Bastille Day." (Shaw Organisation)
Sean Briar and Michael Mason (Richard Madden) in “Bastille Day.” (Shaw Organisation)

Highlights

Interesting location and background

There’s a lot of French being spoken in the film, given that it’s not a French film, and it works as a stark reminder that the location for “Bastille Day” is in Paris. You might also be intrigued enough to look up Bastille Day later on and learn more about the celebration. This backdrop makes the film stand out a little since it’s not as commonplace as other settings and festivals, and part of the its mystique is how this all fits in with the plot.

Good action set pieces

The action scenes are creatively executed and well choreographed, giving us the mad franticness of the heat of combat, while still being evocative and exciting. It builds Idris Elba’s credibility as an action star since he pulls off the fights skillfully. They’re one of the few highlights of the movie, but even these action scenes can’t save the rest of the film.

Sean Briar and Michael Mason in "Bastille Day." (Shaw Organisation)
Sean Briar and Michael Mason in “Bastille Day.” (Shaw Organisation)

Letdowns

What plot?

The villains seem to want different objectives at random times in the plot, with sudden reveals that don’t quite make much sense. In the end, the antagonists are scheming to accomplish an evil act that’s oddly small in scope, given the resources and personnel involved. That’s not a problem if not for the fact that bold declarations of ideologies were seemingly declared and grand conspiracies were hypothesised before the final conflict, and it all feels like an inconsistent string of events, rather than a real, functioning plot.

Forced camaraderie

Briar (Idris Elba) and Michael (Richard Madden) are random strangers who suddenly become chummy and pally with each other, exchanging jibes like long lost friends, which they aren’t. The dialogue sounds like the contrivances of two characters who need to urgently become best buddies, except they haven’t been through enough to build such a relationship. It’s an artificial friendship that suffers from poor execution, leaving you with a sense of hollow camaraderie.

Lacks motivation

Every film needs to answer one critical question: why should we care? And this is what “Bastille Day” fails to answer. The everchanging villains don’t give you a compelling enough reason for the heroes to succeed. The heroes themselves don’t have a true reason to complete their task. There’s little proper motivation for any of the characters, and hence, there is little motivation for the audience to care as well.

The duo in "Bastille Day." (Shaw Organisation)
The duo in “Bastille Day.” (Shaw Organisation)

“Bastille Day” lacks a strong raison de’tre. Fortunately, it is mercifully short.

“Bastille Day” opens in cinemas 21 April, 2016 (Thursday).

This review was also posted on Yahoo!.

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