- Trailer for New SCAVENGERS REIGN Animated Series
- Trailer for New SCAVENGERS REIGN Animated Series
- Trailer for New SCAVENGERS REIGN Animated Series
- Book Club: SWAN SONG Is a Post-Apocalyptic Classic on Par with The Stand
- Book Club: SWAN SONG Is a Post-Apocalyptic Classic on Par with The Stand
- THE SHARDS: New Bret Easton Ellis Novel Publishes in January
- THE SHARDS: New Bret Easton Ellis Novel Publishes in January
- EDGE OF TOMORROW 4K Detailed and Available Now
- Welcome to THE FRINGE - The Exciting New Cinematic Universe Coming from the Makers of PROSPECT
- Welcome to THE FRINGE - The Exciting New Cinematic Universe Coming from the Makers of PROSPECT
- Re: Occupation, Australian Sci Fi movie
- Slice of Life, Blade Runner inspired short
- Is Snowpeircer a sequel to Willy Wonka?
- Re: Yesterday
- Re: Yesterday
- Yesterday
- Re: White Night (or where do I get my 30 + from now?)
- Re: White Night (or where do I get my 30 + from now?)
- Re: White Night (or where do I get my 30 + from now?)
- Re: White Night (or where do I get my 30 + from now?)
- Trailer for New SCAVENGERS REIGN Animated Series
- MANBORG Novelization Out Now!
- Book Club: SWAN SONG Is a Post-Apocalyptic Classic on Par with The Stand
- First VESPER Trailer Finally Drops!
- Feast Directors Return with Zombie Comedy UNHUMAN [Trailer]
- First Poster for Anticipated Apocalyptic Thriller VESPER
- Teaser Trailer for Netflix's RESIDENT EVIL Series
- Here's What's On Blu-ray and 4K This Week! [May 10, 2022]
- THE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN Series Blends Post-Apocalypse with Epic Fantasy
- Turbo Kid Directors Apating THE ZOMBIES THAT ATE THE WORLD Comic Series
- Proto-Cyberpunk & Post-Apocalypse Meet in MONDOCANE [Trailer]
- VIFF 2021: THE IN-LAWS, MIRACLE, SALOUM, SECRETS FROM PUTUMAYO [Capsule Reviews]
- TIFF 2021: SILENT NIGHT Review
- VIFF 2021: Documentary Preview [Capsule Reviews]
- TIFF 2021: THE PINK CLOUD, THE HOLE IN THE FENCE [Capsule Reviews]
- TIFF 2021: JAGGED Review
- TIFF 2021: SUNDOWN Review
- VIFF 2021: Animation Preview [Capsule Reviews]
- SAINT-NARCISSE is Bruce LaBruce at His Most Accomplished [Review]
- TIFF 2021: DASHCAM Review
- TIFF 2021: THE DAUGHTER Review
- THE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN Series Blends Post-Apocalypse with Epic Fantasy
- Watch the Full Obi-Wan Kenobi Trailer
- Famous First Films: Sam Raimi's IT'S MURDER! (1977)
- Four Disc Limited Edition of THE WICKER MAN Is Everything
- Robert Eggers' Edgar Allen Poe Adaptation Finally Gets Released!
- The Northman is Already Up for Pre-Order
- Watch Now: Heavy Metal Meets He-Man in STARCHASER THE LEGEND OF ORIN
- AVATAR 2 Trailer Reactions Are In!
- Trailer for SciFi Indie CRYO Looks Great!
- Sausages: The Making Of Dog Soldiers Book Available Now!
- Turbo Kid Directors Apating THE ZOMBIES THAT ATE THE WORLD Comic Series
- This Week on 4K Blu-ray and DVD (April 25, 2022)
- Surreal Scifi Film AFTER BLUE Channel Jodorowsky
- Listen to John Carpenter's New FIRESTARTER Theme!
- Zack Snyder's REBEL MOON Giving Us Major Seven Samurai Vibes
- New Red Band Trailer Gives First Look at HEAVY METAL SteelBook Edition 4K Blu-ray
- Trailer for Sci-Fi Prison Thriller CORRECTIVE MEASURES
- This Week on Blu-ray and DVD! [April 19, 2022]
- Disturbing Teaser for David Cronenberg's CRIMES OF THE FUTURE
- CHILDREN OF SIN Spooks up Amazon April 22
Jack In
Latest Comments
Latest Forum Posts
PA News
Latest Reviews
Older News
Crew
Marina Antunes
Editor in Chief
Vancouver, British Columbia
Christopher Webster
Managing Editor
Edmonton, Alberta
DN aka quietearth
Founder / Asst. Managing Editor
Denver, Colorado
Simon Read
UK Correspondent
Edinburgh, Scotland
Rick McGrath
Toronto Correspondent
Toronto, Ontario
Manuel de Layet
France Correspondent
Paris, France
rochefort
Austin Correspondent
Austin, Texas
Daniel Olmos
Corrispondente in Italia
Italy
Griffith Maloney aka Griffith Maloney
New York Correspondent
New York, NY
Stephanie O
Floating Correspondent
Quiet Earth Bunker
Jason Widgington
Montreal Correspondent
Montreal, Quebec
Carlos Prime
Austin Correspondent
Austin, TX
Latest news








Year: 2012
Directors: Julien Leclercq
Writers: Simon Moutairou, Julien Leclercq
IMDB: link
Trailer: link
Review by: agentorange
Rating: 6 out of 10
For the record, I think Julien Leclercq is a stellar filmmaker. His style is always visceral and intense, even in quieter moments, and his focus seems always on the internal emotional conflicts if his characters. His last film, the cyber falvoured Chrysalis (review), betrayed the same assured sense of craft, but unfortunately like it, L'Assault falls a little short of engaging the viewer in the ways you'd expect or hope.
Remember Air Force One? Man, when those terrorists took over that airplane it was quite the fun romp wasn't it? Gary Oldman was at his craziest and Harrison Ford did that holding up his finger thing. Great movie. Well forget all that Hollywood jazz, because L'Assault is like the flip side of that escapist coin. It's based around the real-life hostage taking of 200 passengers on Air France Algiers in 1994 and Leclercq takes great pains to go for realism which is what he does best and why I think L'Aussault might be a little better than Chrysalis at the end of the day.
The set up is well done. We're introduced to Thierry, a member of a kick ass French SWAT Team. He's conflicted. Torn between duty and family, though you get the sense he's more than capable of succeeding at both. He's troubled by the violence of what he does and has trouble turning it off when he's in home mode. When his unit is called out following the hijacking, there is a teary eyed moment but he's a man of action, so he's off.
This is when the movie should have pulled us it. The stakes are clear. The conflicts are set. Unfortunately, L'Aussault is not content to be a simple film about a man storming a plane to take on evil and finding himself in the process. WE want to get to that plane, but instead the script goes off in tangents, bringing in politicians, secret service agencies and terrorist leaders that we don't care about and we just plain have to wait until the last act to get back to our hero. It's unacceptable, really. It's seriously agonizing watching a film leave its dramatic centre behind for as long as this does. But alas it's the film's downfall. Because by the time it picks up the ball again, we're out.
And it's too bad too, because the final act is so well done. Combining real footage with Leclercq's masterfully staged reenactment makes for some truly stellar filmmaking.
Ah, well.
Ultimately, L'Aussault makes a bold statement about Leclerq's talents and I can easily recommend on that level. But the story goes in directions that you just don't want it to. It loses it's dramatic core in favour of following side characters that bring little to the story.
You might also like






