Surprisingly entertaining

Now, I'm a big fan of Jean Reno, and really like Luc Besson's earlier works, but given that both of them have made some real stinkers I approached this movie cautiously. I was expecting some mildly amusing entertainment, but I got much more.

The story is pretty plain, but Reno's brilliant acting make even the most stupid scenes work, with a perfectly timed twitch of the lip, or a suggestive glance, or, most effectively, a dead eye stare. Sure, it's certainly not high drama, but with my low expectations I found it thoroughly enjoyable. The parody of Japanese teens had me in stitches. The odd fact that almost every Japanese person spoke French was less believable, but I'm willing to overlook that if Reno is
entertaining me. And he sure was. (Hotel desk: "She's my daughter.")

Sure, there were plenty of scenes that was neither believable nor probable (golf, for one), but it was still enjoyable. At least to me.




(Surprisingly, after having seen 20-odd films with Reno, I never realised just how tall he is, until they stated it in the intro. IMDB confirms this.)