Sphinx

Quite (surprisingly) good for a French crime thriller.

During a routine night patrol, police officer Bastien (Emeric Marchand), his long-term partner Julie (Cécile De France) and the newcomer cop Simon (Fred Testot) are called upon for a complaint of loud noises within an apartment. Bastien knocks on the door and out of the blue a person emerges and shoots Bastien in the chest. Julie shoots the person who seems to be strung out on drugs and apprehends a strange fluorescent yellow drug from him. Soon enough they learn that the man is the son of a politician from the parliament and in the hearing they are forced to sign a statement telling that the shot was accidental and as well deny any evidence of drugs. When the man recovers in the hospital, he sues the police officers and the police department doesn´t support them. However, their chief tells them that they should find evidence of the source that had sold the drugs to the man. Julie and Simon goes undercover in the underworld posing as dealers from the south and find that the drug is named sphinx. Later on they are introduced to the powerful druglord Marc (Julien Boisselier) who is responsible for the supply of sphinx. Julie and Simon are on their own to take down Marc and his partners... Normally french movies carries a stamp of quality and it´s rare that we see bad french movies. But, low and behold "Gardiens De L'Ordre" is pretty bad in my eyes. The feeling of a straight to tv movie holds this cinematic experience in a chokehold and never losens the grip. Cécile De France is an old favourite of mine, but she seems lost here and goes more autopilot than ever. The script is hardly original, the acting unbalanced and the tension you reckon there would be in a thriller set in the underworld of Paris is instead something vague, boring and not exciting. The action is as well very uneven and not convincing. "Gardiens De L'Ordre" is just poor and should be forgotten.

This is a fairly typical and formulatic police action thriller. Inexplicable situations occur throughout the film and the characters adhere to every stereotype imaginable. However, the charm and acting ability of all the leads make this a rather enjoyable movie to watch, and they pull this film through its murky plot. Cecile de France has a powerful and sexy presence that shouts stardom that somehow she has avoided. This isn't great film making, but it is fun to watch.

Ich weiß nicht warum die Franzosen (in französischen Filmen zumindest) immer so seltsam abgehackt reden. Wie auch immer. Der Film ist okay. Wir haben ihn wohl mehr kritisiert als er es verdient hatte. Zeigt aber, wie die Lüge eines Abgeordneten-Sohnes eine Welle der Verzweiflungstaten nach sich ziehen kann.

Hard to swallow the lengths these two police officers go off-duty in order to prove a senator's son was in a drug-fueled rage when he shot their partner. However, this is a French film so you don't know if it will turn out for good or bad, so that kept me watching through the draggy pace. Both leads Cecile de France and Fred Testot do a creditable job trying to track down the source of the glowing yellow drug called Sphinx but features little else to distinguish from a hundred other cop dramas.

"J'te previens, si tu commence comme ça on va pas s'entendre tous les deux"

While it may not display anything new, it does generate adequate tension to become interesting enough. However, a lot of that drains away towards the end in a very dull 'climax'. Yet one could argue that having a plot that doesn't quite know where it is going would only end up with an ending like that.

Boukhrief confirme une fois de plus qu'il est le maitre du thriller en France. C'est meme etonnant qu'Hollywood n'ait pas fait appel a ses services. Tres Tres bon film. Et Fred fait une vraie perf, vraiment beaucoup de talent.

It doesn't really stand us a plot, and it lacks directorial nerve, but it's a pleasant watch and of course there is Cecile...

Heller dårlig. To politifolk som tar saken i egne hender og plaffer ned folk.