Special Forces (Forces speciales)

A Studiocanal relieve an easy Company presentation and production. (Worldwide sales: Studiocanal, Paris.) Produced by Thierry Marro, Benoit Ponsaille, Stephane Rybojad. Directed by Stephane Rybojad. Script, Rybojad, Michael Cooper, Emmanuel Collomp.With: Diane Kruger, Djimon Hounsou, Benoit Magimel, Denis Menochet, Raphael Personnaz, Alain Figlarz, Marius, Mehdi Nebbou, Raz Degan, Tcheky Karyo. (French, British, Pashto dialogue)A Gallic elite commando is shipped to Central Asia to free a blonde, blue-eyed journo within the clutches in the Taliban in "Special Forces," a film that's as elementary and generic becasue it is title signifies. Fiction debut of TV documaker Stephane Rybojad wants to become rousing action-adventure against a geopolitical backdrop, but a gaping hole where the mise-en-scene needs to be proves crippling within the start. Star energy of odd pair Diane Kruger and Djimon Hounsou couldn't atone for an important drubbing in France and you'll be of little help if the hits only one Blighty screen November. 18. German-born Kruger stars as French reporter Elsa (getting a oddly Teuton accent when speaking British), who's kidnapped with the goons from the Taliban chief (Raz Degan). A distinctive French military unit is quickly delivered to Pakistan because France's image abroad reaches risk ("It will not happen that the world will dsicover the decapitation from the Frenchwoman survive TV," a politico helpfully underlines). The small unit of experienced males, seen carrying out an unrelated (as well as the film, irrelevant) job in Kosovo inside the prologue, includes a few stick figures in bulletproof vests, while using thesps' order of billing directly connected using their probability of survival. They are the serious leader, Kovax (Hounsou) his semi-funny partner, Tic Tac (Benoit Magimel), the unskilled youthful 'un (Raphael Personnaz) as well as the inflammed vet (Denis Menochet). Parachuted into enemy territory, they liberate Elsa relatively easily. However, if their radio's destroyed inside the resulting shootout, they need to go to a safer haven by walking while using Taliban around the tail, their mission reduced with a expected wager on cat-and-mouse inside the regal Hindu Kush hills. Even though the soldiers have a very journalist incorporated within this, the larger conflict in the area itself remains very black-and-white-colored (and there's no sense of almost every other forces being on the ground). The script does nothing to illuminate the 3 parties: The Taliban will be the evildoers, the Frenchmen the self-compromising military heroes, as well as the little-seen local population a fascinating bunch caught within the center. Nevertheless the film's finest issue is not its excessively simple and easy , familiar narrative, its scant character development or perhaps the soldiers' frequently miraculous capacity Taliban bullets, but rather Rybojad's poor command of film grammar. Pointing a camera any which way through the various shootouts is not any guarantee with an exciting in addition to coherent action setpiece furthermore the lackluster editing, credited to Erwan Pecher as well as the helmer (who also produced, thus creating a possible inadequate critical distance), as well as the pic every so often is taken away as sloppy. But "Special Forces" wasn't made around the small budget, getting shot for the days in gorgeous locations for instance Djibouti and Tajikistan, with Rybojad overdosing on helicopter shots of arid mountain ranges. The score strikes an unusual balance from the eighties vibe and in your town flavored sounds. Kruger isn't given a great utilize, and isn't the kind of actress who is able to hold her own when poorly directed. Generally, she's offscreen, hiding behind the nearest rock while her rescuers -- generically imposing, with only Magimel and Personnaz adding a sign of humanity -- empty their guns round the hordes of bearded and robed males inside the distance. Israeli actor Degan, playing another eye-linered evildoer after his submit Oliver Stone's "Alexander," is laughably crazy, his Cambridge-educated "butchers of Kabul" every so often insisting his entourage speak British, undoubtedly because that's what crooks do in French movies.Camera (color, widescreen), David Jankowski editors, Rybojad, Erwan Pecher music, Xavier Berthelot production designer, Christophe Jutz costume designer, Celine El Mazouzi appear (Dolby Digital), Arnaud Lavaleix, Benoit Hery, Cyril Holtz. Examined at Le Grand Rex, Paris, November. 3, 2011. Running time: 108 MIN. Contact Boyd van Hoeij at news@variety.com