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Film: Stranded
Release date: 24th January 2011
Certificate: 15
Running time: 114 mins
Director: Hugues Martin & Sandra Martin
Starring: Gregoire Leprince-Ringuet, Thierry Fremont, Said Taghmaoui, Cyril Raffaelli, Aurelien Wiik
Genre: Action/Horror/War
Studio: E1
Format: DVD
Country: France/Morocco
Originally released under the title Djinns, this French debut from directing husband and wife partnership Hugues and Sandra Martin comes to DVD. The North African desert is the home of the Djinn, a group of invisible demons intent on protecting their home from a platoon of French soldiers on a rescue mission.
Michel (Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet) is young, nervous and accompanying a platoon of experienced soldiers in the Algerian desert as they track down a downed plane in the French-Algerian decolonisation war of the late 1950s and early ‘60s. He struggles to adapt to the overwhelming heat and his lack of experience means he is constantly playing catch-up to the grizzled, battle weary veterans. As they slowly make their way through the desert, they eventually make contact with their enemies and take hold of a small village nestled in the sand dunes.
All is not what it seems, however, as the young recruit begins to experience terrifying visions of near-invisible, demonic figures who are capable of possessing their victims, turning them into murderous vessels with only one thing on their minds. These creatures are a known threat to the locals, with the elder of the tribe appointed protector of the village. She claims to know why Michel can see these creatures, and as the soldiers are picked off one-by-one, it seems he is the only one with the power to protect his remaining comrades and the innocent inhabitants of the town…
Like many similarly themed films, such as Daniel Myrick’s The Objective or Michael J Basset’s Deathwatch, the ‘group of soldiers stalked by unseen threat’ has been done many times before. Unfortunately, the Martin’s effort is by no means a shining example of this type of film. It starts off interestingly, with a mysterious figure staggering down a desolate road handcuffed to a silver briefcase. This perfectly introduced the element of the unknown that accompanies the eerie desert. In fact, the desert is the most interesting element of the film. It is almost treated as a character in its own right, and its otherness offers much more tension and suspense than the Djinns ever could. It is obviously a dangerous place to be, and the soldier’s ordeal is exacerbated by the treacherous terrain.
The clichéd character types of most ‘squad’ movies are all present and correct, which adds a distinct sense of unoriginality to proceedings. Michel, the new recruit, clutches his treasured 8mm camera and continually bemoans his situation, while the handsome ladies man, Saria (Aurélien Wiik), befriends him and helps him along when he struggles. Malovitch (Matthias Van Khache) is the company’s resident veteran. Battle scarred and hard as nails, he ticks every box of the strong, silent type. However, despite being tired clichés, these characters are well played, and offer a decent dynamic as a group of men unwillingly thrown together and forced to face insurmountable odds.
Again, like many films of this type, the director unwisely chooses to reveal his monsters too early on, despite the fact that they are almost invisible. During the first forty-five minutes or so, the Martin’s manage to build a credible tension that works well with the slow pace and meandering conversations of the squad. That is until they discover the crashed plane and bodies of their comrades, and are met with a sandstorm and resistance from the local militia. Taking refuge in the dunes surrounding a small village, Michel begins to experience visions of the demons. Quite simply, the CGI used to create the transparent terrors are not good enough to warrant such a blatant reveal, and leave the audience feeling nonchalant towards their presence. The sense of tension and paranoia is, however, utilised quite effectively as the Djinns begin to possess the soldiers, and an interesting dynamic of not knowing who to trust takes over as members of the team are slowly turned into murderous psychopaths, one by one.
It is at this point, however, that the directors choose to undo their good work of building this sense of unease. The potential for decent horror is squandered with uninteresting climaxes to each member’s possession, and a far-fetched Macguffin involving Michel’s role as protector of the village. The entire second half of the film leaves a sense of flatness and unoriginality that disappoints after the promising start.
Undoubtedly, the most impressive element of the film is the cinematography, with the potentially unexciting desert coming to life with beautiful, sweeping long shorts of the massive dunes, and the isolated crew mere pinpoints on the screen as they traverse the treacherous sands. The opportunity for the directors to contrast this sense of openness with the claustrophobia of the confines of the tiny village is squandered, however, resulting in a sub-par creature feature that fails to ignite much excitement.
With Stranded, Hugues and Sandra Martin have somewhat missed the opportunity to present a worthy successor to other superior examples of similarly themed films. By no means a disaster, but still remarkably unremarkable, and too familiar to leave much of an impression. RB
In the desert, the enemy is not who you think!
It’s 1960 in the Algerian desert. A unit of elite soldiers are sent on a rescue mission in search of a missing aircraft. But they are not alone. Under constant attack by Algerian rebels, no-one anticipates that another, more deadly threat lies silently in wait.
A violent sand storm forces the troops to take refuge in an unchartered village deep in the desert. Taking its inhabitants and the rebels hostage, little do they know that the village is governed by a force far more powerful than any of them can imagine - and their invasion has violated their land.
Ignoring warnings to leave, as day turns to night, the evil enemy rises and as ranks are decimated one-by-one, they face the longest night of their lives.
Starring stunt legend Cyril Raffaelli (Die Hard 4.0, District 13) and Saïd Taghmaoui (G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra, Vantage Point).
Film: Stranded
Release date: 24th January 2011
Certificate: 15
Running time: 114 mins
Director: Hugues Martin & Sandra Martin
Starring: Gregoire Leprince-Ringuet, Thierry Fremont, Said Taghmaoui, Cyril Raffaelli, Aurelien Wiik
Genre: Action/Horror/War
Studio: E1
Format: DVD
Country: France/Morocco
Film: District 13: Ultimatum
Release date: 26th October 2009
Certificate: 15
Running time: 82 mins
Director: Patrick Alessandrin
Starring: Cyril Raffaelli, David Belle, Philippe Torreton, Daniel Duval, Elodie Yung
Genre: Action
Studio: Momentum
Format: DVD
Country: France
Question: what do you get if you mix Double Dragon, Enemy Of The State, The Warriors, Future-France, and a society where everyone inexplicably knows parkour (the ability to jump and climb objects – such as buildings - in a fluid manner)? Answer: I'm not sure, but Patrick Alessandrin's sequel to District 13 is probably pretty close to the money.
Set in Paris, in a not-to-distant future, where France is on the brink of marshal law, District 13: Ultimatum draws upon the real-life poverty that parts of Paris are known for to create a rich backdrop for the story of two best friends – heroic special forces officer Cpt. Damien Tomaso (Cyril Raffaelli) and street-smart rebel Leito (David Belle) – as they attempt to prevent all-out war between the government and the inhabitants of the dangerous ghetto: District 13.
The film picks up where the original left off: with Leito voluntarily entering the gang-filled ghetto and leaving Tomaso behind to do the ‘hero-cop’ thing. It's made abundantly clear from the start that Leito still doesn't have much love for the heavy-handed lawmen in charge of Paris, while Tomaso is still just a hero through and through.
The pair spend the first half hour doing things to cement their characters (Leito outruns some cops and Tomaso beats a lot of people up), but the film really kicks into gear when shady secret-service types kill a few policemen in cold blood and then dump them in District 13. This escalates the already high tensions to near fever pitch, and, as it so happens, the only men that can stop it are either disaffected (Leito) or arrested because the wonderfully evil Walter Gassman (Daniel Duval) knows that they represent the only obstacle between him and his dastardly goal (that would be Tomaso). In order to stop the utter destruction of District 13, our heroic duo must band together once more, gain the allegiance of several warring gangs and provide proof of the secret agency's wrong-doing to the honest but ultimately ignorant President (Philippe Torreton)…
If this all sounds a bit straight-forward that's because it is - in parts, at least. Certainly you won’t find high-brow political intrigue here: the antagonists are a conveniently nameless and shady organisation, and the good-guys are your standard rebel/clean-cut combo. In fact, all of the characters in this film are essentially just very well worked stereotypes, but this is by no means a criticism. Indeed, it's actually quite refreshing to see that writer Luc Besson clearly has the art of characterisation down to a tee – okay, none of the roles are particularly complex, but they all work exactly as they are supposed to, and in the end that's all an action film really needs to keep the viewer interested in between set-pieces. However, don't let this fool you into thinking the acting is merely passable – some of the performers (most notably Belle and Raffaelli) frequently deliver moments of excellence that really allow the trademark cynical humour of Besson's script (and of French cinema in general) to come through. They won’t make you cry, but they may very well make you laugh – consistently.
Besson's name should ring a bell with more than a few people as the man behind the Transporter films, and fans of that series will see much of the same here – with one small caveat. Certainly the humour and self-awareness that a European presence in the writing can bring is still very evident, but gone are the jingoisms of a Hollywood blockbuster. Case in point: rare is it that Americans are ever criticised in western action films (let alone cast as the bad guys) – by contrast District 13: Ultimatum does very little except ask questions of the French, and of the underlying problems in Paris, which the film so gloriously stylises into foil for a movie, even going so far as to make everyone from the same place, good or bad. So you see, while the 'shady government organisation' is a stereotype that has been used before, it is hard to recall it ever being used in quite such a cynical (and therefore entertaining) fashion. Ultimately, the approach to action here manages to be subtle in its methods yet achieve madness in its results, and stands out as a stroke of genius because of it.
And it would be remiss to speak about subtlety without at least paying lip service to the stunning grace of the fight sequences that are frequently served up. The fights are choreographed in such a way that visceral, hard-hitting martial arts can blend seamlessly with the fantastic athleticism that well-performed parkour showcases - the end result of which is nothing short of fantastic. Tomaso is the fighter, Leito has the agility and together they possess the ability to lead the viewer through a hypnotic display of aesthetic splendour. Not to do a disservice to the other performers (many of whom have their own moments of excellence), but Belle and Raffaelli are the stars in terms of action, and regularly deliver the kind of quality which should have Hollywood action stars blushing.
It's an action film from the first to the last, but with licks of class visible throughout District 13: Ultimatum puts just about every western action film released in the last five years to shame. JD
