The Connection (2015)

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

THE CONNECTION is a gritty slice of French crime which, as the title would suggest, is based on much the same story as the famous FRENCH CONNECTION by William Friedkin. The story follows a dedicated judge who makes it his business to bring down a heroin kingpin, played by the excellent Giles Lellouche, an actor I better known playing the hero in the likes of POINT BLANK and MEA CULPA. This is a downbeat film full of sudden bursts of violence and a very fast pace so that you never get bored by the familiarity of the genre ingredients. It's also gritty and realistic, and has a good balance between character relationships, plot, and breakneck thrills. It might not be the most original film out there, but it's a film which achieves what it seeks to do, and it's a solid, engaging achievement.

"The Connection" is a dull crime flick with many of the usual clichés, eg. a cop who can't do what he needs to do to catch the bad guy because of the bureaucracy in his way, and his obsession with the case straining his home life and making his wife leave him. How many times have we seen these things, and through the lens of a wobbly camera to boot? The main character is a cliché and it is impossible to care anything about him. Instead I felt sorry for the actor trying his darnedest with material so trite.In one scene the cops arrest a guy who was just about the kill the bad guy for them. The movie doesn't even acknowledge this. It's like it's on a completely different page to the viewer. If you were police after a crimelord, and you had to stop someone you knew was probably going to kill the crimelord and himself in the process, wouldn't you be a bit frustrated that the constraints of your job stopped you from letting one problem solve another? Wouldn't the crimelord express mocking gratitude? This was a point of connection with the audience the movie squanders completely.One of the few interesting points in this movie is that the actor playing the good guy and the actor playing the bad guy look almost identical. I couldn't tell them apart. They have the same features, same haircut, everything. The bad guy is slightly shorter than the good guy. That was my only way of telling them apart.As for telling the movie apart from any other cops vs criminals movie, you're on your own.

Great movie. You can feel the 1970-1980 life. And a good guy-bad guy battle, with the comparisons, is not bad actually. The selection of actors is very good to. This non static movie remind me to the earlier movie "The French Connection", with a similitude, but this movie is recorded with the Hollywood modern way. The faces of the actors remind me to that era to. I only miss a revenge to a judge's family, but never happens. This Movie is a great deal for Action-Triller lovers. Love the colors and this sepia effects in some frames. If you love action films of earlier eras, this is a movie for you. Beautiful story, good actors and great landscapes. Recomendable

If I could only recommend you go and see one film this year, The Connection would be it.The film follows the true story of the rise and fall of Pierre Michel "The Judge", played by The Artist's Oscar winning Jean Dujardin, against the Marseillaise mafia gang The French Connection in the 1970s. The story had already been put to cinema in The Judge (1984), but this time the story's been redone much more ambitiously.It's a typical good guy versus bad guy story, but it's the bells and whistles in this film that really make it so much more than that. The director achieves the perfect combination of action, drama, comedy and tragedy with the irrepressible Mediterranean sun beating down on every day time scene in the film. The Mediterranean settings give the film a sense of glamour and surrealism, juxtaposing the surreal nature of life as a successful drug trafficker in the 1970s, passing time between seaside villas and the biggest nightclub in Marseille.This is film making at its best - it's as if the screen writer and director Cédric Jimenez pulled out an old school book of film making craft written in the 1970s and followed all the old rules to perfection to bring about not only a brilliant piece of cinematic entertainment, but also of art. This film is a living, breathing and intimate nostalgic reinvention of the 1970s and a just and accurate portrayal of a real gangster story, with some liberties in representing the character's private lives.Cédric Jimenez grew up himself in Marseille in the 1970s and says that the story of the Judge has run through his veins his whole life. He has wanted to make this film as long as he has wanted to be a film maker, starting his career initially as a documentary maker. He chose to shoot the whole film with a hand held camera, which gives the film it's intimate and raw feeling.It is an absolute viewing pleasure to be immersed back into the 1970s era and the sets and costumes have been rendered to perfection, to every last detail. The velour furniture, the dingy nightclubs, the glamorous dresses and old style police surveillance technologies are a delight to rediscover. The cowboy style of policing in the 1970s makes the action scenes much more exciting than anything depicting the risk-averse 2000s - the only person in the film wearing even a bullet proof vest is the gang leader Gaëtan "Tany" Zamper (Gilles Lellouche).There are countless unforgettable scenes in this film, the dialogue is witty, the action is edgy and the acting is superb. Another highlight is the film's soundtrack featuring endless classics from the 1970s (Blondie, Kim Wilde and the Velvet Underground) and tunes by composer Guillaume Roussel that reflect the film soundtracks of the time (for example, his tune Meurtre de fou). It can be tough to watch a sub-titled film for 2h15min, but believe me it's worth it.