Mains armées (2012)

Lucas and his team are after a gang of Serbian criminals using NATO-issued weapons. As the investigation leads him to Paris, Lucas attempts to reconnect with his estranged daughter, a young narc officer.

Director:

Pierre Jolivet

Writers:

Pierre Jolivet (scenario and dialogue), Simon Michaël (scenario and dialogue)

Stars:

Roschdy Zem, Leïla Bekhti, Marc Lavoine

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Roschdy Zem	...	Lucas Scali
Leïla Bekhti	...	Maya Dervin
Marc Lavoine	...	Julien Bass
Nicolas Bridet	...	Simon
Dominique Deslauriers	...	Psychologist
Nicolas Marié	...	Michel Thabuy
Nina Meurisse	...	Juliette
Eric Bougnon	...	Melik
Marilyne Canto	...	Brigitte, la mère de Maya
Adrien Jolivet	...	Hector
Cyril Gueï	...	Benji
Clémentine Poidatz	...	Nathalie
Simon-Pierre Boireau	...	Anthony
Marc Robert	...	Lieutenant Marc de Fontbrun
Bruno Debrandt	...	Stéphane Assor

Storyline

Lucas is 46. A great cop, running arms trafficking in Marseille. Maya is 25. A young narc in Paris. As they often do, guns meet drugs. And Lucas will meet Maya. Not necessarily by accident. Busts, heists, informants... their investigations will become entangled. So will their lives. Because their story began long before their meet-up.

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Plot Keywords:

serbian gangster | hit and run | person in a car trunk | informant | open ended | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

France

Language:

French English

Release Date:

11 July 2012 (France)

Also Known As:

Armed Hands

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Box Office

Budget:

€8,300,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

€1,021,974 (France), 15 July 2012, Limited Release

Company Credits

Production Co:

2.4.7. Films,Mars Films,France 2 Cinéma

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The fifth collaboration between director Pierre Jolivet and actor Roschdy Zem since Fred (1997), in which Zem already played a cop. Ironically, Zem went from being the "rookie" to the "veteran" among the actors.

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Connections

References Gladiator (2000)

User Reviews

Lame

Some cop named Scali is told by an informant that he's being offered military weapons. The cops tells him to go for it. The guy says he doesn't have money. The cop answers unhelpfully that the guy will figure something out. The guy meets with the bad guys who are Serbian. The cops monitor the meeting, they look in the Serbians's car, photograph the weapons. Because the informant has no money, he gets a good beating from the Serbians and they vanish.

Next we meet some narcotics team raiding an apartment. One guy escapes with a tiny police girl named Maya chasing him. They stop, he gives her a bunch of money and leaves.

The weapons cops mount some operation to put transmitters in some trucks that belong to the bad guys. That takes them to Paris where the narcotics unit works. Scali makes contact with Maya. At first it looks like they are romantically involved. Later we learn that they are estranged father and daughter.

We meet a whole bunch of people on the respective teams. Scali has some pregnant girl on his team who starts vomiting every couple of minutes but won't tell her boyfriend. We meet Scali's ex-wife for some reason. Maya stashes money, and occasionally uses drugs. Her boss is one corrupt creepy guy who is involved with all his female officers.

The thing is that these weapons belong to NATO, and Scali doesn't want to make some international fuss about it because then they'll take the case away from him (?). They keep investigating the Serbians and find the warehouse where they keep the weapons after a whole bunch of botched attempts. Meanwhile Maya who doesn't know anything about this, but in her drug investigations comes across the same Serbians. Scali mounts an operation to catch the bad guys with the weapons. Problem is that same moment Maya is going after them as well.

I had high hopes for Mains Armées as the French have produced strong cop movies, but this one is just poor. Things start out alright with the cop work but a few minutes later everybody is asking everybody else about their boyfriends/girlfriends/husband/wives--work be damned. It sure is realistic as law enforcement people are dramatic and love drama in their lives. But still, we could have done without it in this movie. Another problem is that we have nondescript forgettable villains. It would have been better to learn something about them instead of seeing so much about the intimate lives of the cops. What is worst perhaps is the uncharismatic multicultural lead that adds nothing to the movie.

What this movie has going for it are some strong basics, some interesting close calls between cops and bad guys, and that much of this movie is filmed outdoors so we actually get to see some uncommon sights of France. While most Hollywood movies that are allegedly filmed overseas show nothing of the places, this movie takes advantage of the sights. It looks a bit too colorless and lifeless, just like the movie itself, but it's refreshing to see so much filmed outside and during the day on top of that, instead of at night, in darkness, in rain.

Main Armees could use a remake, one that's shorter, tighter more focused on action and thrills.