The Last Deadly Mission

The French have done it again. MR 73 is one of the grittiest crime dramas I've ever seen. This film is about honour! An homage to the torture, the courage, and the lives of the people the film is based on. The biggest highlight is definitely the birth at the end, which convinced me that I never wanted to see one with my own eyes in my life. (02/18/2014)

I had been putting off watching this Olivier Marchal film for a long time. Having heard nothing but praise from various sources, my expectations were understandably high. And now, I can unfortunately state with a clear conscience that the director has better works in his collection. The acting is top-notch, no doubt about it. Daniel Auteuil shone once again, just as he did in 36th Precinct, delivering another one-man show. However, the problem lies in the painfully slow pace, with almost nothing happening throughout the entire runtime. I was expecting a thrilling chase of the main killer, but that never materialized. Sure, the visuals are among the best I’ve seen. I haven’t seen a detective film that exudes such boundless pessimism in every shot for a long time. The music is also enjoyable. But I can't forgive the film’s pace, I really can’t. The ending did veer a bit off the rails (there I felt a touch of the old Marchal), but it wasn’t enough. For me, it’s 6.5/10. (05/07/2023)

Marchal once again puts his experience in the police force to use and creates a world full of assholes and even bigger assholes through one filter after another. Auteuil proves again and again why he is the best actor in continental Europe. Bruno Coulais managed to deliver a composition of a lifetime, and the screenplay is not nearly as run-of-the-mill as it may initially seem. And if you can find a more sensual femme fatale than Olivia Bonamy in France today, then I’d really like to meet her. But this all pales in comparison with one aspect. The atmosphere. It engrosses you right from the opening title sequence of the bus “hijacking". That scene is literally everything a viewer (like me) could ask from this kind of movie. And the best part? That it didn’t end there, but continued like that for the rest of the movie, even though the pace was a bit slow in places (although this time it kind of worked for me). If Marchal’s 36th Precinct revived the classic French crime movie and brought it to the threshold of the 21st century, then The Last Deadly Mission gives us hope that it wasn’t just a shot in the dark. (10/03/2008)

Olivier Marchal, a former law enforcement officer and director with a God-given talent, tells another story. That story is that carrying a badge is a heavy burden and it usually doesn't end with the discovery of the killer. Marchal tells the story simply, almost sparingly, and more or less in images. He doesn't prattle on in dialogue and the actors make it all feel incredibly vital, pulsating, and real, like life in uniform itself. The best "crime" film since Zodiac. (11/16/2008)

The technical aspects of this film are brilliant and Marchal is among the top directors in France, not only in his genre. It is difficult to criticize the acting performances, as Daniel Auteuil is currently the greatest acting ace of French cinema, and he convincingly portrays his burnt-out bitter policeman. The music, editing, and cinematography are all excellently coordinated and fulfill the director's intention. However, I have difficulty with the content, although the script is logically constructed, it all feels somewhat overexposed. All the conflicts are taken to the extreme and create not only a pessimistic but directly nihilistic image of today's France and its justice system. Moreover, the main character is not only imperfect but can serve as a textbook example of a ruined man who has perfected his self-destruction and can hardly gain the audience's sympathy. The film, for example, works with the idea that 25 years of imprisonment is clearly an inadequate punishment for a man who committed a double murder. It is actually an indirect challenge to debate about the death penalty. Frankly, I do not believe in miraculous character changes and the rehabilitative environment of a prison, but a man on the verge of his seventies will already be too exhausted after 25 years of imprisonment and it will be difficult for him to plan and commit further crimes. Emotionally, I simply could not identify with the film. Overall impression: 65%. (09/21/2010)