Secret défense (2008) - film review

When she fails to get a potentially lucrative work placement, Diane, a language student, is offered another kind of job by Alex, the father of her friend Jeremy.  Alex is head of France’s counter-terrorist department and sees that Diane has the potential to make a good agent.  Meanwhile, petty crook Pierre falls under the influence of Aziz, an Islamist fanatic who believes that terrorism is a legitimate means to achieve his objectives.  The destinies of Diane and Pierre are about to become inextricably linked...

Secret défense starts from an interesting premise - to show how the techniques employed by Islamic terrorists to recruit and train their warriors are mirrored by those of the national security services - it falls down massively in the execution.  Too slavishly enamoured of the latest species of Hollywood action blockbuster, director Philippe Haïm delivers a punchy, visually striking film that is all but lacking in substance.   This is clearly not the same Haïm that previously brought us the idiosyncratic black comedy Barracuda (1997) and the live-action Lucky Luke fiasco Les Dalton (2004).  Secret défense is formulaic, soulless and of interest only to those who derive a gutless satisfaction from watching mindless spectacles of violence.  Had more effort gone into the screenwriting, had Haïm shown more restraint in his offputtingly showy mise-en-scène (most of the film was shot with hand-held-cameras, and it shows) and avoided the needlessly frenetic editing, had the actors been invited to tone down their performances, then this may have been something worth watching.  As it is, it is just another shallow, self-indulgent action fest, clichéd to death and completely lacking in characterisation and narrative focus.

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