Watching the Detectives: Jean Reno is Pierre Niemans in Crimson Rivers II – Angels of the Apocalypse
Jean Reno returns to the part of Commissaire Niemans that he first played in 2000, this time partnered with Benoît Magimel. The first film was a solid if unexceptional thriller based on the novel by Jean-Christophe Grangé, this time though the story is an original one and comes from Luc Besson. You’d think that would be a major plus but in fact it’s the films weak point.
Things start OK but soon go downhill. Someone is killing off the Twelve Apostles, well there namesakes anyway, but this is no serial killer thriller à la Se7en or TV’s Messiah, would that it were as that would make more sense than what follows. Gruesome murders, a lost treasure, and some ninja monks all add up to a mess of a film that can’t decide if it wants to be a thriller or an action movie and ends up falling short as both.
Reno looks bored, while Magimel, after an excellent Bourne style martial arts fight at the start, gets nothing much to do. Only Christopher Lee comes away with any credit, showing he can be just as menacing speaking French as English but sadly he doesn’t appear until the film is two thirds done.
A missed opportunity.
