IF you ask anyone to name their favourite movies, ‘Die Hard’ will most likely appear somewhere on the list.
It launched the cinematic career of Bruce Willis and spawned a further four sequels. The basic premise? Bad guys use terrorists as a distraction to empty a bank vault of millions of dollars.
And while I wasn’t at the pitching meeting for Idris Elba’s new movie ‘Bastille Day’, I’m pretty sure somebody present uttered the words ‘Die Hard in Paris’.
This film tells the story of Michael Mason (played by Richard Madden of ‘Game of Thrones’), an American pickpocket living in the French capital, who finds himself hunted by the CIA when he steals a bag that contains more than just a wallet. Sean Briar (played by Elba), the field agent on the case, soon realises that Michael is just a pawn in a much bigger game, and is also his best asset to uncover a large-scale conspiracy.
Going against commands, Briar recruits Michael to use his expert pickpocketing skills to help quickly track down the source of the corruption.
As a 24-hour thrill ride ensues, the unlikely duo discover they are both targets, and must rely upon each other in order to take down a common enemy.
The script is well written and moves along at a fast pace which is a plus, as the budget isn’t as big as some of its contemporaries might command. Interestingly the writer, Andrew Baldwin, is scheduled to pen the latest Bourne instalment, so what you have here is a well constructed story, but maybe a few less exploding buildings, which is fine by me.
In that sense this feels more like a European film than a Hollywood blockbuster, again, no complaints here.
Elba’s undoubted magnetic screen presence carries the film as it hurtles towards its finale on Bastille Day when anti-police protests reach their height in Paris.
The subject matter is topical given the recent bombings, and the film also raises interesting questions about how easy it is to control the masses. We score Bastille Day a respectable, flag saluting, 3 out of 5 stars.
Paul O’Rourke
