Ad Vitam

"Ad Vitam" follows in the footsteps of many, many other French action crime thrillers but somehow doesn't quite pull it off. The story that occurs briefly in the opening scenes of the film and the final third are what you might expect. Frenetic action, intrigue and spectacle abound. Regrettably, these elements are sandwiched between what amounts to an excess of "cop bonhomie" that's overstated and over long, stealing too much of this films run time. The outcomes a film that feels absurdly short and as a result, more than a little dissatisfying. In summary, decent acting, decent action but let down by an unbalanced script that doesn't seem to know the difference between an action crime thriller and a drawn out police soap opera. A marginal watch.

Ad Vitam is a well-made French action thriller that succeeds in its technical execution but stumbles with its core narrative. Guillaume Canet delivers a raw, believable performance as Franck, and the opening home invasion sequence is genuinely tense and frightening. The film does a great job showing the grit of elite GIGN training, and the practical stunts feel much more grounded than your typical Hollywood blockbuster. However, the "government conspiracy" at the heart of the story is where the movie loses its footing. The idea that the French domestic intelligence (DGSI) would go to such extreme, "dirty" lengths—including kidnapping a pregnant woman and trying to assassinate a former elite serviceman—to cover up a botched robbery feels highly unrealistic. It shifts the movie from a grounded police drama into a cynical political fantasy that doesn't quite match the realistic tone of the action. Furthermore, the film is dominated by an incredibly long flashback that takes up nearly half the runtime, which kills the momentum of the present-day search for Franck's wife.