Ultimate Heist

2009
5.4| 1h34m| R| en
Details

The Malakian clan, a family of ruthless gangsters, controls the underworld of Southern France. At its head, the violent godfather Milo Malakian rules his world with an iron fist. His son and heir, Anton, dreams of breaking free and making his own choices. But the gang's inner circle is engraved in blood. To escape, not only does Anton have to counter his own destiny, but also the man who has sworn to bring his father down.

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Reviews

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.
Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.
Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.
Doug Meyer This movie could have been so much better. The cast, the location, even the plot (thin as it was) was good. Especially the cast. I expect great things of Jean Reno. Perhaps the budget caused the director to pinch things. I did like the homage to The Godfather with the scene following where the grocery bag falls to the pavement. Nice touch.There could have been so much more, but the movie felt hollow. The actual heist itself seemed to me almost an afterthought. Such a pity, because the drama could really have been built there step by step, scene by scene. I kept waiting for the payoff. Frankly, I was confused at which player took the bullet until the denouement. The last third of the movie was muddy, or perhaps 'smoky'.I really wish that I could rank this movie higher than I did, but that's show biz, I guess.
socrates99 I'm a Jean Reno fan but he's only one of the great things about this movie. I will agree that the beginning is a little rough. You have to think about what's going on and let it go keep its own pace for awhile. But for all its lack of grace in the beginning, nothing fatal goes on and it easily makes up for it in Acts II and III. This film is one of the most economical I've ever seen. There's hardly a wasted scene and the characters are all quite believable. Next to Jean Reno as Milo, the next most important role is played by Gaspard Ulliel as his son, Anton. The young man who plays Reno's son is quite capable and is a good match with Reno.The story is a simple one: young man wants to leave the crime family he belongs to and go straight. I would say there's little new in the story but that's not quite right, on reflection there's a lot of very important detail that really makes the story come alive. I really admire this film's ability to elicit real crime techniques and ambiance, all while giving the audience an unforgettable travelogue of what I think was southern France. Suffice it to say, I intend to seek out this director's work from now on. His name is Laurent Tuel and I believe the man deserves quite a lot of credit.
jotix100 The film begins with a newsreel account of the Armenian genocide of the last century. It doesn't serve any purpose because the story we are invited to watch is not about that horrible page in the history of that country, but one in which descendants of the fleeing Armenians, settled in France, have chosen a life of crime.Milo Malakian, the ruthless head of the clan, rules supreme over his men. His own son, Anton, is part of the gang. Anton, alas, has a secret life. He has been having a hot affair with the nurse that is seeing his own grandmother. This young man has had it and wants to break away from his father and a life of crime. For that, he has set his eyes on a property he wants to turn into a sort of boutique hotel. Because of that, he must keep a low profile.Milo, on the other hand, has something else in mind. He is planning a caper that will make him and his associates rich men. They want to steal the money transfer that will be taken on a commercial flight from a nearby airport. Saunier, the police inspector of the area, figures the group is up to no good. Keeping an eye on the money transfer, seems to be the right thing to do. Little prepares Saunier and his men for the way the Malakian gang will employ to get to the money.Laurent Tuel directed this action film. The film reminds us of other pictures of the genre, although we must admit, it kept our attention. It is to Mr. Tuel's credit to have kept the pace in the movie, as it never became dull. The heist at the airport reminded us of a similar incident that occurred in France not too long ago. How closer is this story to what really happened, is not clear to us.Jean Reno appears as Milo, the boss of the group. Gaspar Ulliel does justice to his Anton, a man that came from a criminal background and realizes there is much more to life because he has fallen in love for the beautiful Elodie, played by Vahina Giocante. Sami Bouajila is seen as Saunier, the police in pursuit of the bad guys.
Cihan "Sean Victorydawn" Vercan (CihanVercan) That statement of the Greek historian Herodotus chimes in with this movie whereby both of Malakian's sons were killed during gunfights with the police. Sticked in my memory; previously in Troy(2004) when his son Hector got killed, the King of Troy had gone to knee before Achilles and also very famously in Godfather(1972), Marlon Brando's character had endured in silence of his son Sonny's assassination. There are more examples to that case in earlier movies, yet those were the most remarkable ones for me. Jean Reno played the heartless father here, he caused the death of his son. His way of playing the role of his character was mediocre and occasionally it set out several instabilities.It wouldn't even have surprised me when Reno began crying whilst holding his son's corpse, who got killed trying to save his life. The main reason for that is because there was not a sign of concord between Jean Reno and Gaspard Ulliel. It wouldn't be wrong to compare Ulliel and Reno here, since it's very clear to eye that Reno gave one of his worst performances while Ulliel giving his best. Yet, even after this comparison, even Reno played his worst performance while Ulliel played his best; still Reno acted better. So, if you are watching Le Premier Cercle for one of these stars you won't like the movie. Oppositely, if you liked the movie you won't like the performances of the stars here.Le Premier Cercle continues the endless tales of immigrant crime stories that Jean-Christophe Grangé brought to mind. A family escapes from the Armenian holocaust during the World War-I in Turkey. By time the family get involved in the illegal trade of sensitive items and weapons with overseas. When history leaves its heritage to the power of the underworld empire in our present time, we know that no matter what thriller story is created the result is always same: Whoever has the power and the authority wins the lawsuit.Almost one third of this film is dealing with the common rat race between the police and the mafia. The next one third slice is crime and action which is not offering anything special or new. Finally the last one third section(apart from the erotic and dramatic segments) is a must-see suspense. Accordingly those segments come to vision very purely that editing is so simplemindedly offering us an easy-to-watch popcorn flick.The actual wonderingly awaited scenes ,which are mixed brilliantly with suspense and high tension, start when you feel that the story has begun to create a new and unexpected story. Plot has been installed with a high potential, such that when the story begins to expand; it becomes like a puzzle with "How?" and "Why?" questions coming to mind, which are getting their answers at the end. It's a film that heroes and stars die, villains live. When the moment comes shocking incidents begin to occur and from now on it's hard to guess what happens next. I strongly advise Le Premier Cercle to anybody who likes surprise suspenses.