​Adapted from the 2012 film inspired by the 1970s TV show, 'The Sweeney: Paris' (otherwise known as 'The Squad' or 'Anti-Gang', depending on your location) is the story of Serge Buren and his unorthodox police unit as they attempt to bring a gang of armed-robbers to justice by any means possible...
 
The result is a capable, if somewhat generic, crime thriller/drama. With some clear reverence for the material (the film rather than the television show), the film follows many plot points of the original, as well as numerous films that have come before in this genre. So much so, it's almost a wonder why anybody bothered to put the effort in to this production. In the hands of director Benjamin Rocher however, the action is as deft as the characters themselves, offering fight sequences and set-pieces that are both frequent and attention grabbing. It is also not without it's fair share of humour - most notably in the banter and camaraderie of the titual squad - and, if you scratch beneath the surface, a surprising trace amount of heart.

Anybody hoping to see Ray Winstone reprise his role with a French accent as he tackles the French criminal underworld with his fists, though, will be sorely disappointed. Instead, the honour of top-billing goes to Jean Reno (Leon; The Da Vinci Code) who remains as reliable as ever as the grizzled veteran, contributing the majority of the aforementioned heart when the case becomes a tad more personal. The show is stolen out from under him however by Alban Lenoir. Relatively unknown - outside of his native land, at least - Lenoir is the source of both the film's best moments of action and comedy, including quips aplenty and a running gag about, um, running....
 
For all this, the sum of its parts don't quite manage to equal a successful whole. Proceedings remain mostly predictable (and therefore unsuspenseful) throughout, with some interactions and developments falling flat and, outside of a wonderful, tension-relieving ringtone, a score that leaves a lot to be desired. 

All in all, it will no doubt please fans of both the original film and series, as well as those with a general fondness for the genre. But for anybody else, 'The Sweeney: Paris' is merely a decent, familiar, if underwhelming, way to spend a few hours.

A mystery is a fragile thing, ultimately I think it’s strength depends largely on the pay off. Is it satisfyingly surprising but meaningful? Does it effect our understanding of the story in a way that moves us? 'Midnight Special' is balanced very precariously on this line as the film is very much a mystery, and said mystery is interesting and the pay off makes sense and is ultimately satisfying to the story, but we seem to be stuck with an array of uninteresting characters doing uninteresting things.
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The film concerns a young boy named Alton (Jaden Lieberher) who has been kidnapped from a religious cult group whose name I don’t immediately remember but it doesn’t really matter anyway so I’ll be as dismissive of them as the film is. Turns out his kidnapper is his father (Michael Shannon), that’s not a spoiler it happens early, and the boy has mysterious powers that have caused the cult to view him as some kind of messiah.

 Said powers include the ability to unwittingly receive and transmit radio frequencies, imbue others with “holy” visions through direct eye contact and an extreme aversion to sunlight. So he’s not exactly Superman but it’s interesting, and somewhere along the line he has been picking up military or CIA frequencies of some significance that’s never fully explained and he’s specifically focused on a particular time and place that the cult have come to assume signifies judgement day. His father, tired of the cults BS, is determined to take Alton to the location at the time and see what’s what once and for all.
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A chase movie occurs with Alton, his father, his fathers friend (Joel Edgerton) and eventually his mother (Kirsten Dunst) because the movie suddenly realised it needed a woman in it, trying to outrun the military, an NSA analyst (Adam Driver), and the cult who want them back so they will be spared the judgement. Unfortunately it’s not entirely clear why any of this matters. The cult are arguably the most interesting angle but they get unceremoniously thrown away after the military rounds them all up in the first ten minutes and besides a couple of reluctant hitmen they’ve sent out to track Alton they never reappear again and even those two don’t affect the third act in any significant way.

The film employs the idea that keeping things sort of vague nurtures intrigue and whilst it drip feeds us just enough information to hold an audience all the way to the end anything that isn’t Alton learning to use his powers doesn’t seem to fit in. For example at one point we cut to NSA analyst Kylo Ren dramatically solving a problem we didn’t even know he was having, unravelling the tangle of numerical information Alton has apparently been feeding the cult to determine the location he is trying to get to for no reason beyond that Alton and his gang had gone into hiding and the movie needed to chase to start up again. We honestly didn’t even know he hadn’t worked this out yet, it comes a little out of nowhere.
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So the tension of the chase never quite kicks in and there’s a lot of superfluous characters cluttering up the story but the mystery is engaging and the climax, whilst not answering all our questions, does feel satisfying within the relative small scale of the characters world.

The effects sequences are superb, all at once being subtle and epic. If you’re expecting small scale indie film quality in this regard you’ll be quickly surprised, we very early realise that there’s some real hocus pocus going down here and nobody is prepared for it. That’s really the point of the film, Alton’s father and mother in over their heads trying to do their best for the son they’ve no hope of understanding. There’s a much larger even cosmic series of events playing out in the background and seeing it from the perspective of two desperate parents trying just to do the right thing makes for some interesting drama and I found the films vague attempts to be a thriller or action movie just got in the way.

Hands up if you've ever been to see a film without having read the book.  Yep, that's a lot of us.  Hands up if you've ever been to see a comic book film and have never read a comic.  Yep, lots of us again.  Well, sorry, but if you go and see 'Batman vs Superman' you're screwed.  In fact, considering that I was watching this film with a self-confessed Super Geek and at times he still had no clue what was going on, you're possibly screwed regardless.  It's one of the most disjointed, indecipherable blockbusters in a long time that is played out with arrogant, adrenaline heavy bravado.  Working out what on earth is going on is a lot like having a conversation with a very attractive, but very drunk high school meathead.  

The sense of anticipation I had at the start of the film dwindled within minutes into confusion and then plummeted into downright indifference.  Arguably you shouldn't be thinking "meh" when the fight scene that has been billed as the punch up of the year is being duked out on the screen in front of you.  That's not to say that the 'Batman vs Superman' barney didn't contain pleasing CGI.  It was a short, reasonably perfunctory affair that was done no justice by the 90 minutes preceding it and still left you somewhat confused as to how you got there.  It wasn't a justifiable rumble in the jungle so much as a petulant grudge match.  What immediately followed the fight was also meant to be the emotional linchpin of the warring duo's reconciliation, but was utterly facile, saccharine and unbelievable.  I don't expect to have my bottom lip quivering when I watch a comic book film, but I do want to feel some empathy with the characters in the moments that count.

And that's the point.  Because most of the film was so desperately disjointed it was hard to grasp the characters' real motivations and gain any sense of connection.  When the crunch of the film came I wasn't that bothered, especially considering that this film is a butt-aching 150 minute trailer for all the other films in the franchise and you know that's not really the end.  But unlike your average 3 minute trailer 'Batman vs Superman' doesn't have a helpful Voiceover Man telling you who's who, who you should be rooting for and what's going on and why.  Instead you're left to puzzle through on your own because even your adjacent Super-Geek is getting stuck.  

"Hey Super-Geek, is Batman dreaming or hallucinating now? 

"I have no idea."

"Why are we in a Mad Max type desert and what are those things?"

"Still no idea."

I love comic book films.  Marvel's films are colourful, dynamic and full of witty conflict and camaraderie.  DC films are the perturbed and pessimistic counterpart.  The irasicble good guys fight with neurotic force more than finesse and only Wonder Woman provides any light relief. 

There's definitely themes you will get (all the mega wealthy are mega nuts or prone to going mega nuts mega quickly) and religious and terrorism tropes aplenty.  But that's about it. Because of the need to cram everything in the actors felt underused. Cavill is chiselled, Eisenburg isn't truly enabled and the women, well they look pretty and/or need rescuing and sympathising with until Wonder Woman weighs in.  She actually has one of the best moments of the film.  Super-Geek leant over the me and said "chills!" when she leapt up to the plate. And that's no mean feat when you are fighting a wannabe Orc that's just birthed itself from an amniotic sac. Overall it feels more like an outline for film that was meant to preview half a dozen other different films that unless you are an avid comic book reader you are not going to get.  If you are going to see this film and aren't very familiar with the DC comics either read up or take a geek.  Or wait for the GIF of Affleck thumping a tyre with a sledgehammer.  It'll be on the internet within a week and will tell you all you need to know.