Gardiens de l'ordre (2010)

During a routine night patrol, police officer Bastien, his long-term partner Julie and the newcomer cop Simon are called out by a neighbor complaining of the noise in another apartment. ... See full summary »

Director:

Nicolas Boukhrief

Writers:

Nicolas Boukhrief (screenplay), Dan Sasson (screenplay)

Stars:

Cécile De France, Fred Testot, Julien Boisselier

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Cécile De France	...	Julie
Fred Testot	...	Simon
Julien Boisselier	...	Marc
Nicolas Marié	...	Le commissaire principal
Stéphan Wojtowicz	...	Gilbert
Nanou Garcia	...	Sandrine
Stéphane Jobert	...	Roland
Jean-Michel Noirey	...	Rudy
Gilles Gaston-Dreyfus	...	Christian
Foued Nassah	...	Joseph
Anthony Decadi	...	Stan, le gamin au couteau
Nicolas Grandhomme	...	Maxime, le dealer 'Shakma'
David Salles	...	Patrick - le dealer du parking
Vincent Rottiers	...	Jean - le fils de député
Nicolas Gonzales	...	Laurent - l'étudiant agressif

Storyline

During a routine night patrol, police officer Bastien, his long-term partner Julie and the newcomer cop Simon are called out by a neighbor complaining of the noise in another apartment. Bastien knocks the door and out of the blue, the dweller opens the door and shoots him in the chest. Julie shoots the man who is high on drugs and apprehends a strange fluorescent yellow drug. They soon learn that the man is the son of a politician, and they are forced to sign a statement saying that the shooting was accidental. When the man recovers in the hospital, he sues the police officers and the police department does not support them. However, their chief tells them that they should find the trafficker that sold the drugs to the man. So Julie and Simon go undercover to the underworld of drugs.

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Plot Keywords:

drugs | police | crack cocaine | pusher | undercover operation

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Details

Official Sites:

Gaumont [fr]

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

7 April 2010 (France)

Also Known As:

Off Limits

Company Credits

Production Co:

Les Films du Worso, Gaumont, Entre Chien et Loup

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Flat script and characters

I was looking forward to seeing director Nicolas Boukhrief's latest movie since I had enjoyed the previous one, Cortex, despite its flaws.

In Gardiens de l'ordre, Boukhrief explores once again the thriller genre, except this one is more of a classic crime flick. Julie and Simon are two cops who, responding to a seemingly routine call, end up shooting the son of a politician. At that point, they lose the support of the police department and decide to go rogue and find proof that he was under the influence of a powerful narcotic by taking the plunge into the world of drug trafficking.

Yup, if what I just wrote above sounds like a plot that stretches believability and seems to come straight out of the 80s, you've got a pretty good idea of how this movie will play out. Cécile De France stars as Julie. American audiences will recognize her from the underground horror hit "High Tension", although she also has a list of interesting credits in Europe. De France does an adequate job of portraying Julie but the writing leaves little room for character development of any sort. Fred Testot co-leads as Simon and is also unremarkable, again due to weak writing.

But what really, really kills the movie is the paper-thin plot. Starting from the very premise, you never buy what happens there, as it seems to come straight out of the 60s. In fact, it's very much as if the writers had watched too many old movies and forgot that surveillance cameras and forensic science have come a LONG way since then. At every turn of the plot, you will find yourself wondering why characters do what they do, how could two cops be dumb enough to leave such a trail of damning evidence behind them and how their colleagues can be even dumber and not figure it out.

A movie that is loose on realism has never been an obstacle to entertainment, provided it offers something else. Hollywood action, for instance, or romance, or comedy, or just strong characters you become fascinated with. Unfortunately, Gardiens de l'ordre does none of that. It really tries to play out like a procedural thriller/drama most of the time, halfway between Serpico and Rush. But it completely fails, unfortunately.

I'm very disappointed that Boukhrief couldn't improve on Cortex, which at least had some charm and mood to go with the questionable plot. This new film offers absolutely nothing new.