Sentinelle

Julien Leclercq is a kind of French action routinier. His films aren't downright bad, but they also hardly ever impress. The story this time is simple, Olga Kurylenko is out to get revenge on the Russians for raping her sister, and luckily she has military training so she's not a complete wimp. I don’t mind that it doesn't have a strong or interesting story, what bothers me more is that the action is sparse (two short fights and one big shootout). Also, it's not very brutal, almost not at all except for two gory shots. The fights are pretty good, they are rough, the camera is clear and Olga is good to look at, especially when she shows up naked, and there is some decent lesbian sex. I expected much more from the French, but I wasn't bored, the film passes quickly thanks to its 80 minutes running time and I don't mind these B-action movies if they are at least well made, I enjoy them more than any drama. 5/10. (03/05/2021)

To make something so boring and bland out of an action revenge thriller is almost a miracle. (03/12/2021)

A promising idea gradually gives up any promise and just drowns in a very naive to stupid execution, only to drown completely at the end (the ending is SO stupid). Neither Olga Kurylenko's beautiful eyes nor the rarely restrained running time can save it. (03/06/2021)

Subjectively, it’s the weakest work from Julien Leclercq for me. Considering the luxurious war opening with the effective bomb explosion and an interesting start, it’s a huge disappointment because this film had the potential to be at least in the mid-sixties percentage range. The visual aspect is perfectly fine; you can see the money spent there, so I wouldn’t fault that. The problem lies in the credibility of the main plot. The scriptwriting poverty presented to the audience is painful to watch. There are so many logical blunders that leave you staring in disbelief and shaking your head. However, the hand-to-hand combat scenes are choreographed excellently; they rival the best genre films, especially the second one with the assassin in the hospital, which was noteworthy. There weren’t many shootouts, and when there were, they didn’t convince me of their quality. Olga Kurylenko was decent but often overacted. And the ending... What was that? A very crazy conclusion. It’s not a total failure, but you might want to skip it. 4.5/10 (03/14/2021)

Olga Kurylenko in military gear is definitely something I want to see. But Sentinelle turned out to be the most pointless action B-movie I wish I’d never watched. Total waste of time. (05/27/2021)