I Knew It

I knew Hollywood would remake 'À Bout Portant', directed by Fred Cavayé. Variety says:

• Working Title is teaming with Mark Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson's Leverage banner to remake Fred Cavaye's hit French action thriller "Point Blank."

Good. Great. Hope they get the right director. Jeez, the wrong guy would trash this. Here's the trailer for the original.





















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New Razor-Sharp Trailer for 'Point Blank'

Previous posters and trailers for 'Point Blank' (À Bout Portant, directed by Fred Cavayé) have been impressive. Clips have been uneven, though.

New trailer is cut as well as any action trailer I've seen. I'm thinking Hollywood is drooling over remake potential.

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Clip/Trailer for 'Point Blank' (À Bout Portant)

Previous clip didn't play well. Maybe for good reason. Nobody does action better than Hollywood. European flicks rarely reach that level (for more than a few seconds, let alone an entire sequence or the whole movie).

I think Fred Cavayé falls short both in the shots and editing. Coarse. Comes off disjointed, even cold, impersonal. Jangly throughline. Blocking, zooming, and panning come off a bit nauseating. I know he's going for the 'you are there' feel but this just undermines the sequence.

Even the script doesn't quite hold up -- when the cops gain instant unquestioned access to the security office, find exactly the right video feed within seconds, and are off to the exact location they need to be without hesitation or asking directions -- that wouldn't fly in a Hollywood script, not for a high-profile movie. (Yes, there's a lot of crap in Hollywood scripts, but not like that. The clunky stuff in our movies tends to be conceptual, or gaps in story logic. Action scenes, though -- are in our DNA. The one thing you can bet will be frame-perfect in a Hollywood movie). Not so with the above sequence from Cavayé. That may not be typical, but you see it a lot in European movies.

Here, though, with this new clip, everything works, and just as you'd expect from a French director. There's instant connection with the characters. Great suspense (a lost art in Hollywood). Gobs of dialogue that goes unspoken (which would be slogged through in an American production, putting the audience into a dialogue-induced coma). Small moments are sharply done, unexpected and unusual but play smooth, even charming, and manage to ramp up tension. (Would be jagged, clunky, and hard to believe, even eye-rolling in a Hollywood version).

Result is a crackling cut. It's fair to call it 'edge of your seat'. Lots of forward motion, yet smooth. But, it's not an action sequence. It's atmospheric, tense, character-driven, and loaded with suspense -- what Euro directors are naturals at. It gets under your skin, makes you care about the people involved (you forget for the moment that they are fictional). And, Hollywood rarely achieves that.

Had already planned to see 'Point Blank', but this clip seals the deal. Now I might even buy it.

Clip from 'Point Blank' (À Bout Portant)

Not the most impressive. Kind of a let down. Was hoping for better.

Set Up for 'Point Blank' ( À bout Portant)

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Holy Cow Trailer for 'Point Blank' (À Bout Portant)

You know, this is so packed with action it's like someone was trying to parody the genre.



From director Fred Cavayé ('Anything for Her' remade as 'The Next Three Days'). This guy is must-see.

Here's the previous trailer. Should watch if you haven't seen it -- more character centered with plot details.

Here's posters and some background

Must Watch Trailer for 'À Bout Portant' (Point Blank)

Fantastic



Fred Cavayé strikes again. Must see.

Posters and background