Jun 09, 2010

Saw “La 7ème cible” (1984), a psychological/crime thriller by Claude Pinoteau, starring Lino Ventura. This is one of the last movies featuring Ventura (who died in 1987). On the whole, it is a good one. It’s still got the right French atmosphere, like many French movies from before 1985. Ventura plays his character very convincingly – good type casting; he’s the right man for the job. The movie is captivating because the tension builds up gradually. In fact, this is also the downside: the tension builds up rather slowly – it seems to take ages before we get to the point were the assailant’s motivations are explained. This is not unusual, but it means there ought to be some redeeming features in the film, which I didn’t see enough of to my liking. A lot of time is spent on Ventura’s character’s personal relationships (friends and family), but they are not terribly exciting, nor very relevant. The final scene (with the car chase in Berlin) IS great, though. The combination of the actions scenes with the orchestra’s music is climactic: it makes “La 7ème cible” go out with a bang. And it is at this point that one realizes that this part of the movie is so much more impressive than the rest of it.

Saw “La 7ème cible” (1984), a psychological/crime thriller by Claude Pinoteau, starring Lino Ventura. This is one of the last movies featuring Ventura (who died in 1987). On the whole, it is a good one. It’s still got the right French atmosphere, like many French movies from before 1985. Ventura plays his character very convincingly – good type casting; he’s the right man for the job. The movie is captivating because the tension builds up gradually. In fact, this is also the downside: the tension builds up rather slowly – it seems to take ages before we get to the point were the assailant’s motivations are explained. This is not unusual, but it means there ought to be some redeeming features in the film, which I didn’t see enough of to my liking. A lot of time is spent on Ventura’s character’s personal relationships (friends and family), but they are not terribly exciting, nor very relevant. The final scene (with the car chase in Berlin) IS great, though. The combination of the actions scenes with the orchestra’s music is climactic: it makes “La 7ème cible” go out with a bang. And it is at this point that one realizes that this part of the movie is so much more impressive than the rest of it.