Blu Ray Review – The Assault

FRC Newbie, Stu Anderson tackles The Assault new on Blu-Ray and DVD TODAY

From the opening shot of The Assault, you know exactly what you are getting into.  Those saturated colours that make every shot a shade of dark blue almost makes you feel like you’re watching something from Picasso’s blue period, either that or you’re watching a gritty French crime drama.  Probably the latter.

The Assault is a fast paced action film based on true events.  It takes place over three days when terrorists from the Algerian Armed Islamic Group hijack a plane destined for Paris at Algiers airport with the intention of blowing it up over the Eiffel Tower.  The Assault is shot from the perspective of a hardy SWAT office and family man, Thierry (Elbaz), a gutsy foreign minister (Bernier) and driven terrorist (Aymen Saidi) – throwing in the backstories of each character whilst still keeping the audience very much in the action on screen.

The Assault is very much of a post-Bourne Identity world – the shaky handheld camera that seems to come as standard with action films after 2002 is present.  It works very well within the tight environment of an aircraft, ensuring to build suspense to a point where it is almost unbearable – particularly if, like me, you have a fear of flying.  That causes the film to be REALLY scary.

The set-pieces themselves are brilliantly choreographed; this is helped infinitely by Leclercq’s decision to intersperse the dramatised action with shots from bystanders watching the real events unfold on the television.  In a way this causes the on-screen events to feel even more harrowing – almost as if the stakes are higher

The Assault tries to avoid politics for the most part and focuses on the events instead.  This doesn’t exactly work, however.  In a way, it gives the film a comic book feel – like the police are the good guys and the jihadists are the bad guys and it just as black and white as that.  Having said that, Leclercq still succeeds in making the characters feel realistic – one particularly touching scene was when one of the terrorist’s mothers arrived at the scene with his son and told him over a megaphone not to go ahead with his plans.

Whilst The Assault isn’t going to win any awards, it’s still a very enjoyable hour and a half, and if you’re looking for an action film to fill the void between the new Expendables and Bourne films then this will certainly keep you going until then.

About The Author – Stu Anderson

Stu is a former film student and aspiring film critic from the Highlands, currently living in Edinburgh.  He is a fan of documentaries, Judd Apatow produced comedies, science fiction, cult film and television, punk rock, and video games.  He is a firm observer of The Moviegoers Code of Conduct and would love to live in a world where people don’t talk or check their phones during films.  He can be found on Twitter as @stugone or at his own blog: Stu’s Adventures in Cinema

Have you seen this film? Does it sound like your cup of tea? Comment below…