An action-packed slog

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

This movie could have been so much better. The cast, the location, even the plot (thin as it was) was good. Especially the cast. I expect great things of Jean Reno. Perhaps the budget caused the director to pinch things. I did like the homage to The Godfather with the scene following where the grocery bag falls to the pavement. Nice touch.There could have been so much more, but the movie felt hollow. The actual heist itself seemed to me almost an afterthought. Such a pity, because the drama could really have been built there step by step, scene by scene. I kept waiting for the payoff. Frankly, I was confused at which player took the bullet until the denouement. The last third of the movie was muddy, or perhaps 'smoky'.I really wish that I could rank this movie higher than I did, but that's show biz, I guess.

Very handsome young gangster wants to leave the family business and lead a normal life but he needs money so one last heist.Other reviewers cover the story in detail so I will not and just give my overall impressions.No, this is not a great movie. However it is OK and entertaining.The production values are low rent trying to be high rent. What do I mean? Well there are great shots from the air but they don't grab you like they do in a comparable film like Anthony Zimmerman.The story is predictable and full of holes....you don't attack an airport and plane any more without getting the entire national defence force down on you--France has lots of Mirage fighters and so forth that would have been scrambling.I guess overall this is pretty good boiler plate gangster flic avec un accent Français. There are many better The Double Hour, The Aura etc....

I love Jean Reno (Leon: The Professional, Godzilla, Ronin, The Crimson Rivers). That may color my impression of the film as a whole. He plays an Armenian mafia head in France. He is cool, tough, and everything I have always loved about his acting.Gaspar Ulliel (A Very Long Engagement) plays his son, Anton. Anton wants out of the mob and wants to live a normal life with his love Elodie, played by Vahina Giocante (Lila Says).Sami Bouajila (Days of Glory, The Siege) is Saunier, the police inspector trying to catch the gang as they plan one last heist that will set them up for life.Director Laurent Tuel did not waste a second in this dark film. It was captivating from beginning to end, even if it turned out as expected. The soundtrack was excellent. It was worth watching just to hear it.

That statement of the Greek historian Herodotus chimes in with this movie whereby both of Malakian's sons were killed during gunfights with the police. Sticked in my memory; previously in Troy(2004) when his son Hector got killed, the King of Troy had gone to knee before Achilles and also very famously in Godfather(1972), Marlon Brando's character had endured in silence of his son Sonny's assassination. There are more examples to that case in earlier movies, yet those were the most remarkable ones for me. Jean Reno played the heartless father here, he caused the death of his son. His way of playing the role of his character was mediocre and occasionally it set out several instabilities.It wouldn't even have surprised me when Reno began crying whilst holding his son's corpse, who got killed trying to save his life. The main reason for that is because there was not a sign of concord between Jean Reno and Gaspard Ulliel. It wouldn't be wrong to compare Ulliel and Reno here, since it's very clear to eye that Reno gave one of his worst performances while Ulliel giving his best. Yet, even after this comparison, even Reno played his worst performance while Ulliel played his best; still Reno acted better. So, if you are watching Le Premier Cercle for one of these stars you won't like the movie. Oppositely, if you liked the movie you won't like the performances of the stars here.Le Premier Cercle continues the endless tales of immigrant crime stories that Jean-Christophe Grangé brought to mind. A family escapes from the Armenian holocaust during the World War-I in Turkey. By time the family get involved in the illegal trade of sensitive items and weapons with overseas. When history leaves its heritage to the power of the underworld empire in our present time, we know that no matter what thriller story is created the result is always same: Whoever has the power and the authority wins the lawsuit.Almost one third of this film is dealing with the common rat race between the police and the mafia. The next one third slice is crime and action which is not offering anything special or new. Finally the last one third section(apart from the erotic and dramatic segments) is a must-see suspense. Accordingly those segments come to vision very purely that editing is so simplemindedly offering us an easy-to-watch popcorn flick.The actual wonderingly awaited scenes ,which are mixed brilliantly with suspense and high tension, start when you feel that the story has begun to create a new and unexpected story. Plot has been installed with a high potential, such that when the story begins to expand; it becomes like a puzzle with "How?" and "Why?" questions coming to mind, which are getting their answers at the end. It's a film that heroes and stars die, villains live. When the moment comes shocking incidents begin to occur and from now on it's hard to guess what happens next. I strongly advise Le Premier Cercle to anybody who likes surprise suspenses.