Writer & director Laurent Tuel's "Le premier cercle" qualifies as a gritty, hard-boiled heist thriller about a pugnacious clan of Armenian mobsters in France. Jean Reno stars as the ruthless father and crime boss Milo Malakian. He remains unscathed throughout this well-staged dramatic shoot'em up. Nevertheless, his life of crime exacts a tragic toll on his family. Gaspard Ulliel plays Milo's handsome son Anton Malakian who isn't sure that a criminal career is best for him. He wants to invest in a small motel and raise horses. Anton falls in love with the pretty young nurse, Elodie (Vahina Giocante) who takes care of his grandmother. Interestingly enough, Reno's tough guy protagonist never sees the inside of a jail cell. When Reno and his larcenous family aren't trying to kill French police inspector L'inspecteur Saunier, they are feuding with each other over the girl that the son wants to wed. Moreover, the son follows reluctantly in the father's footsteps. The stolen car scene at the gas station at the outset of the action is neatly down. Reno's character has no qualms about openly attacking the police. In one scene, he recognizes a cop in a car near a dock and rams the car with the cop. The airport heist set-piece in the last half-hour and the son's struggle to go straight are electrifying. "Le premier cercle" is believable from fade-in to fade-out, and Tuel's 95-minute movie never wears out its welcome.
Review of Le premier cercle
