A tailor-made vehicle for Belmondo, out-Burting Burt Reynolds in this action flick with non-stop action. The whole thing is laughable thirty years later because we are used to Bourne Identities coming out of our fannies, but this is how they made films before CGI and mega budgets: a charming star, an excellent ensemble cast, well-motivated action, and a relatively tight script. Okay, it's cheesy by modern standards, but one must remember French politics re. Africa (remember Bokassa? The French do) and mercenaries. It makes more sense to the French, and certainly didn't export well. But you can nonetheless see why Belmondo could get away with a certain wink at the camera Burt smarminess, because he always played it with a touch of comedy, and he was way more charming than Burt ever was. ALthough you can read this film as played for laughs, at the time it's plot was believable, and the cold-hearted treatment of citizens by government forces is certainly more than believable to Europeans. Watch it and enjoy. How many low budget action films stand up 30 years later? This one does, and the subtitling is pretty good.
Review of The Professional
