The Red Siren (2004)
Nearly 13, Alice rebels, telling the Paris police that her mother is a murderer. Alice has no evidence; her mother, Eva, rich and powerful, avoids charges. Alice promptly runs away, determined to find her dad whom she claims lives in Portugal. The police believe he is dead and that Alice is in denial. Nonetheless, they dispatch Anita, an Italian police officer on loan to the French, to find Alice and bring her back. Meanwhile, Eva has launched her own paramilitary force to hunt for Alice, and Alice has found a protector in Hugo, an ex-soldier turned hit man and gang member. He promises to get her to her father. All roads lead to a small town on the Portuguese coast.
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In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.
It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.
I must confess... my low rating of this has to do with a similar plot (pre-teen girl who's life is in danger taken under the wing of a professional assassin) being much better utilised in Leon, with far more suspense and gripping action. It also had the added bonus of a young Natalie Portman, rather than the whiny brat who constantly lands everyone in trouble here. Add to that the main shootout being a poorly edited, shot-in-green-light farce, and a villainess who, if she chewed any more carpet, would have a completely bare house, and you can see we have real problems here.Still, it's not all bad. Jean-Marc Barr compellingly plays the ice-cool hired killer, and Asia Argento makes for a sexy yet intelligent officer. We get to see quite a few scenic highlights of Europe, and the plot moves along with just the right speed to stop boredom setting in. It's just the feeling of deja vu is constant from the first shot... And I guarantee you've seen it done better. I know I keep bringing this point up in my reviews, but if the boot fits... 5/10.
Honestly, if this movie had not included the aforementioned shooting scene, there would be really not much to see. In short, a not bad idea with a bad delivery. Acting not really believable and pardon me, Franch actors trying not to sound French, even with their voices dubbed onto the movie as they most probably could not deliver acting performance together with not sounding French. Funny if not ridiculous at times. Instead of saying the usual French 'otel' - I mean 'hotel', pronouncing every single syllable to the best of their abilities. Totally unbelievable role of the female cop, naive, dumb and artificial. Nice try, try harder next time...
Okay, having just watched The Red Siren, I have to ask why. Why has this excellent euro-thriller been ignored so much that the only way I heard about it was by drifting about looking for Asia Argento movies on Play.com, post Land of the Dead. In the end I wound up watching this and xXx in my quest, and while I've got a lot of love for Messers Diesel and Cohn and their crazy 2 hour explosion-fest, The Red Siren shoots xXx out of the water like a crazed redneck with a sawn off.The plot is best described as a familiar tale unconventionally told, involving a freedom fighter and a detective (played thoughtfully and powerfully by Argento) who find themselves unavoidably entwined in an attempt to save Alice, a young girl on the run from her maniacal gangster mother. This is not unheard of as a plot line in thrillers, but it's told in a wonderfully organic and odd fashion, making the movie feel fresh and new.The acting is great, even if at times the dialogue becomes strained as a result of the cultural diversity of the cast (there's almost every major European nationality in here at some point, leading to some lines being a little garbled or sounding out of place). In fact, the acting is on par with anything Hollywood has to offer. Speaking of Hollywood, lovers of big budget action will not be disappointed with Red Siren, as it redefines the words 'slick manic action'. While not an orgy of destruction like the aforementioned xXx, Red Siren has both great car chases and some of the best set piece battles I've seen for a good long while. The hotel shoot-out is so fantastic you'll need to remind yourself to breathe.All in all, Red Siren is essential viewing for any action nut. It has fantastic acting, a great story and frenetic action sequences. Couple this with an arresting visual style and consummate direction and we're onto a winner.
This is the kind of movie that allow me to say that French directors are able to make as good action movies as American ones. It's perhaps not so good as "Leon" or "Nikita" from Besson, but it's a new director : Megaton. The fact is that there are not as much electronics gadgets as in American movies, but we can see very nice pictures.