Lost Bullet 2 movie review: High-octane drama drives down the formula freeway

Language: French with Hindi and English audio options Director: Guillaume Pierret Cast: Alban Lenoir, Stefi Celma, Sebastien Lalanne, Pascale Arbillot The 2020 thriller Lost Bullet is rated among the most enjoyable Gallic action entertainers ever, setting up a stuntfest amidst engaging, though simplistic, storytelling. Over the years mainstream French cinema has crafted the action thriller as a distinct genre that serves a very different flavour from the Hollywood prototype, sampled by hits such as Leon: The Professional, Point Blank, District B13 or the series La Femme Nikita among several others. Guillaume Pierret’s Lost Bullet (originally titled Balle Perdue in French) was a good addition to the list. A sequel was always on. Lost Bullet 2 marks the return of franchise star Alban Lenoir and the story takes off where the first film ended. For those who came in late, the first film cast Lenoir as Lino, a small-time crook with a gift for customising regular cars into amped-up super machines. To avoid a jail term after a heist goes wrong, Lino agrees to work for the police task force. The suspense drama unfolds with the death of his mentor and his brother in the hands of corrupt cops, following which he is framed for murder. The ex-con has to track down a missing car that contains the sole proof of his innocence — a bullet. Just as the first film, lead actor Lenoir and director Pierret collaborate as screenwriters for the sequel, too. The duo was clearly concerned about giving more of what worked the first time around, maintaining the high-octane tempo in terms of storytelling as well as the execution of action. The start of the new film provides only a minute lookback at what happened in Lost Bullet, to backdrop the sequel in the context of the predecessor. Briefly, in Lost Bullet 2 after the death of his mentor Charas, Lino is determined to nab the culprit. The cop Julia (Stefi Celma), who has a soft spot for him, returns from the first film, too, and gets a bigger piece of the action this time. A new narcotics unit is formed and she is deputed to lead its missions. The story touches upon illicit cross-border drug trade happening between France and Spain, creating scope for a highlight highway action sequence involving French and Spanish cops. Lenoir as Lino is increasingly emerging as not just a mechanic, he is also a super driver with abundant fighting skills. Which in turn lets the protagonist be a superhero of sorts, with his customised car as a weapon of ‘special powers’. In a way, more than a groundbreaking narrative, the franchise screenwriters are clearly more focussed on the stunts and gimmicks that prop the drama that unfolds. Scriptwise, a revenge drama featuring fast cars and criminals could remind of, say, the Fast And Furious series of Hollywood. If the Lost Bullet films have managed to craft a distinct space removed from the successful Vin Diesel franchise it is because Lenoir and Pierret render the drama a gritty realistic edge, visually as well as in terms of the violence that goes on. Without hampering pace or getting in the way of the action-adventure, the script of Lost Bullet 2, like its predecessor, tries accommodating an undercurrent hint of socio-political realities in terms of ethnicity and class while visualising its characters and backdrop. Corruption within the system is cleverly highlighted, too, while setting up twists in the screenplay. You spot a dystopic restlessness as Lino and his modified car get down to the business of chase ’n stunts — it’s all very Mad Max in complexion but quite uncomplicated and inherently too French in imagination to be a copy of the cult Hollywood series. The affect, however, is middling. Pierret’s direction is mainly focused on maintaining a fast pace while setting up the irreverent action narrative. Lost Bullet 2 is meant to serve as the continuation of an ongoing storyline but the film could work as a standalone adventure, too (to wholly savour the sequel, though, ideally check out the first film before getting down to watching the sequel so as to not miss the context of the drama and the returning characters). Pierret’s approach is persistently about trying to set up a milieu for spectacular VFX-loaded thrills, especially car chases, in a bid to regale the loyal fan base the first film garnered. The outcome should keep franchise fans happy. For a film that narrates a story based on one course of action — Lino’s retribution and bringing the villains to justice — Pierret uses the runtime of around 99 minutes to set up taut pace. Faithfully adhering to generic demands and never venturing out to set up something pathbreaking, the narrative manages to sustain viewer interest primarily by creating drama in individual scenes. The frequent long-drawn violence and car chases render an effect as if the film is being narrated in real time, although the approach tends to get monotonous after a while. Despite focus on a heavy thrill quotient that often borders on gore, director Pierret creates space for the odd emotional moments. Such scenes come as relief amidst the high dose of action but mostly add nothing to progress of the plot. The storyline gives the Lino-Julia relationship a formulaic twist. Since Lino is recklessly unapologetic while realising his revenge mission and Julia is a staunch lawkeeper, the screenplay accommodates drama that involves her chasing him in order to thwart his transgressions. Overall, the screenplay positions Stefi Celma’s Julia as the ‘good guy’ to Lino’s bad boy protagonist in the tale that follows a two-hero formulaic division where one lead actor idealistically stays within the limit of law while the other will go to any extent to realise what he wants. Pierret’s direction is ably assisted by cutting-edge tech specs including cinematography (Morgan S. Dalibert) and editing (Sophie Fourdrinoy). Romain Trouillet’s background score aids the narrative sufficiently, too, blending generic notes with sounds of the street during the high-speed chases. Technically, Lost Bullet 2 is not as expensive as Hollywood fare of the genre but is stylishly sleek enough. Only, with a final scene that suggests Lino and company will surely hit the road a third time around, we hope for a few smarter twists in the tale along the way. Lost Bullet 2 is streaming on Netflix

Vinayak Chakravorty is a critic, columnist, and film journalist based in Delhi-NCR. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.