Review | Film review: Bastille Day – Idris Elba plays action hero in anti-terrorist thriller
The British actor channels his inner Liam Neeson for this over-the-top action thriller that, despite the inane plot, is a fun watch in a turn-off-your-brain way
3/5 stars
Elba plays Sean Briar, a Paris-based CIA agent known simply for his recklessness. After an American pickpocket called Michael (Game of Thrones’ Richard Madden) steals a bag from Zoe (Charlotte Le Bon) – a terrorists’ mule with a conscience – and unwittingly sets off her ticking bomb in public, Briar tracks down Michael in a pursuit that includes an exhilarating chase across the city’s rooftops.
Yes, you read that right; and no, it didn’t make much sense to me, either. If Watkins has done anything well, however, it’s that he never pauses the action to consider the ridiculousness of it all. Alongside hit-and-miss attempts to scrap for real-life conviction (framing the Muslims as terrorists is hot; using hashtags to start a riot is plain silly), the pleasure of Bastille Day often resides in the delightfully awkward give-and-take between Elba and Madden, which I actually wouldn’t mind revisiting in possible sequels, though you’d get the longest of odds on there being any. It’s a fun mess.
Bastille Day opens on October 20
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