Film Review
After notching up two hits with
Babysitting (2014) and its sequel
Babysitting 2 (2015) (in collaboration with Philippe Lacheau), director
Nicolas Benamou clearly had his sights set on another box office triumph
with this energetic action comedy, which looks as it may have escaped from
the Luc Besson stable. The film certainly has a great deal in common
with Besson's high octane
Taxi films,
and serves up the same kind of bravura action stunts and puerile humour,
with a comparable lack of substance in the plot and characterisation.
À fond looks as if it is targeted exclusively at speed junkies
and computer game addicts - it is hardly suitable for family viewing and
for a grown-up of above average IQ its appeal wears thin within about five
minutes, carried off by a deluge of predictable clichés and crude
humour.
As a comedy,
À fond is a total disaster. Nicolas Benamou
and his fellow screenwriters resort to the cheapest of gags and even then
manage to run out of ideas before the film has hit the halfway mark, after
which the lame comedy just tapers into abject silliness. The characters
are not only unconvincing stereotypes, they are one dimensional to a fault,
and a dull, unlikeable bunch at that, even though they are played by quite
an impressive crowd - José Garcia, Caroline Vigneaux, André
Dussollier and Florence Foresti are all fine comedy actors, given the right
material. It is a feature of film comedy today that the worse the script
is, the more the actors tend to overact.
À fond shows
this to a horrifying degree - the performances are as dreadful as the script,
and that's saying something.
What prevents this idiotic film from being a total write-off is that it just
about works as an action movie. Realised for real, without the aid
of green screen and digital effects, many of the stunts genuinely do take
your breath away - and this no doubt is where Nicolas Benamou's true talents
lie, as an action film director. Unfortunately, a series of well-choreographed
action scenes is not enough to carry a ninety minutes feature by itself.
Without a single character on board the demonic vehicle to engage our sympathies
and with some members of the cast (Garcia and Dussollier in particular) going
way, way over the top at the least provocation, it's hard to see this infernal
journey through to the end.
© James Travers 2017
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
The departure for the summer holidays is always a miserable experience in
France, but for one French family who set out on their annual excursion to
sunnier climes a nightmare of unimaginable proportion looms as they hit the
highway in their brand-new people carrier. Tom, the father, reckons
he is smart to start the journey at the crack of dawn. This way, they
should be able to avoid the worst of the traffic. With his wife Julie
pregnant Tom can do without the stress of being stuck in a traffic jam for
half the day. So, having set the vehicle's speed control to 130 kilometres
an hour, Tom and his five happy holidaymakers begin their journey, confident
that nothing can go wrong. Tom's faith in modern technology proves
to be totally misplaced. When he tries to decelerate his car he finds
he can't - the speed seems to be stuck at the level he set it to, and nothing
he does can alter it. Alerted by the fact that a car with a mind of
its own is chewing up the highway, the police hurry after it - but what can
they do? All that Tom can do is to steer the motor vehicle from Hell
and hope it runs out of fuel before it crashes. Unfortunately, up ahead
of him is the mother of all traffic jams...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.