The Nest (2002)
"Nid de guêpes" (original title)

Laborie is a high-flying officer in the French special forces. Her mission is to escort Abedin Nexhep, a godfather of the Albanian mafia. Charged with heading a wide-reaching prostitution ... See full summary »

Director:

Florent-Emilio Siri

Writers:

Florent-Emilio Siri, Jean-François Tarnowski

Stars:

Samy Naceri, Benoît Magimel, Nadia Farès

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Samy Naceri	...	Nasser
Benoît Magimel	...	Santino
Nadia Farès	...	Helene Laborie
Pascal Greggory	...	Louis
Sami Bouajila	...	Selim
Anisia Uzeyman	...	Nadia
Richard Sammel	...	Winfried
Valerio Mastandrea	...	Giovanni
Martial Odone	...	Martial
Martin Amic	...	Spitz
Alexandre Hamidi	...	Tony
Angelo Infanti	...	Abedin Nexhep
Grigori Manoukov	...	Le Passager VAB
Paul Hervet	...	Vigile 1
Frédéric Kontogom	...	Vigile 2

Storyline

Laborie is a high-flying officer in the French special forces. Her mission is to escort Abedin Nexhep, a godfather of the Albanian mafia. Charged with heading a wide-reaching prostitution network, this formidable criminal is due to stand trial before a European court. During the transfer, killers hired by Nexhep set up an ambush to free their boss but Laborie and her men manage to escape. After a frantic chase, the officers seek refuge, with their prisoner, in a warehouse located in the heart of an industrial park. There they meet up with a gang that has come to steal computer material. Meanwhile, Nexhep's killers surround the warehouse?

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Plot Keywords:

warehouse | special forces | industrial park | computer | prostitution | 

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Taglines:

12000-patsu kurae [Japan]

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence and language

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French English German Italian

Release Date:

6 March 2002 (France)

Also Known As:

Ninho de Vespas

Filming Locations:

France

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$733,241 (France) (8 March 2002)

Gross:

$733,241 (France) (8 March 2002)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Canal+, Carrère Groupe, Cinémane Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

References Die Hard (1988)

User Reviews

Most intense action movie in years

Watching THE NEST I was reminded in quite a few ways of DIE HARD, which I consider to be the archetypal action movie. Very pure of focus, very lean and taught and *incredibly* intense. It's been a long time since a movie kept me on the edge of my seat like this one.

The premise is very simple. A group of special forces soldiers are escorting a mafia head to trial when they're attacked by his men and take refuge in a warehouse. As luck would have it, a gang of thieves choose the same night to rob the same warehouse, and they get caught in the crossfire.

Once the groups of characters are introduced, it's not long before the bullets start flying... and flying, and flying and flying. It's almost non-stop action for the rest of the film, and easily outdoes HARD BOILED for bullet count. I'm sure some people will find this very boring, so if intense adrenalin-inducing action isn't one of your things then skip the rest of this review (and the film). The rest of you, skip the rest of this review and go rent/buy/acquire this film. Hollywood only wishes it could make an action film this pure or this exciting these days.

As regards purity (since I've mentioned it twice), this means that the film focusses on building intense action, and doesn't let itself get distracted with other concerns, except in a few cases. The characters are given just enough development to let us know who they are, and pretty much no back story. One character in particular seems like he must have a story to tell, but all we learn is that he was once a fireman. There was surely more to him than that, but it's kept a mystery. Maybe that's a good thing, but I'd have liked to know a little more. A few times the movie teases you into thinking there's going to be a twist, and you say to yourself "Ha, I see what's coming later", but the plot remains refreshingly twist-free. It doesn't need them, so it doesn't have them. Pure.

It's just a shame that Hollywood's marketing machinery has such an iron grip on the world's cinema distribution that junk like Alien vs Predator will be seen by millions of people, and a movie as good as THE NEST will remain inexplicably classed as "Indie" or "Arthouse", even in its home country.