Ultimate Heist (2009) User Reviews

Moving and intelligent thriller about a powerful family of violent gangsters headed by a magnificent Jean Reno

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 6 August 2019]

Tense and violent French thriller with intense drama , wonderful acting and spectacular action scenes , dealing with the head of an Armenian "crime family" and his son , set in the south of France . Thrilling and stirring thriller about a powerful family of cruel mobsters , they are the Malakian clan , that controls the underworld of Southern France . At its head, the tough , ruthless godfather Milo Malakian (Jean Reno) rules his world with an iron fist . The gang is formed by various two-fisted members , all of whom have great respect for this person . His son and heir, results to be Anton (Gaspard Ulliel) , but he wants to retire himself , living peacefully . Anton's life radically changes when appears a beautiful girl and he would like to forget that part of his life along with his nurse sweetheart Elodie (Vahina Giocante) . Miko Malakian is a known robber who has retained a sense of family , honesty , camaraderie , unfailing loyalty and pride in his origins . Proud Miko is 60 and some years old and a veteran leader of a dangerous band of robbers . The two of them , father and son , have created a reckless gang who carry out bold robberies . Most of all, Miko has remained friendship with Rudy (Isaac Sharry) .The team they formed, inevitably got involved in organized crime, they are called the Malakian Clan , made them the most famous armed thieves in France .Meanwhile , the clan chief Miko taking part in funeral , weddings , parties and family celebrations . But then there appears the stubborn L'inspecteur Saunier (Sami Bouajila) who relentlessly pursues them . To getaway , not only does Anton have to counter his own destiny , but also the cop who has sworn to bring his dad down . Later on , there emerges violence , chases , betrayal and relentless vendetta , it does gang's inner circle is engraved in blood .

A stylish , complex , dramatic movie driven by two main characters , dealing with a known delinquent : Jean Reno and his son as well as heir : Garpard Ulliel . This exciting film contains action , violence , thrills , treason , suspense and plot twists . Top-notch thriller in which nothing is the way it seems , the atmosphere is already tense and the twists and turns are the best part of this movie . In other ways, it feels like a tribute to ¨Polar¨ genre or French Noir Cinema , full of attractive characters and edge-of-your-seat intrigue . The story is well paced including complex as well as interesting roles. The film was noteworthy for casting some of the finest actors in France . Exceptional acting by Jean Reno , a good French actor who has played several Noir flicks , he plays as Milo Malakian , a notorious criminal of simple and universal values, so clear-headed and full of loyalty , friendship , comradeship with his family and band . Reno has played a lot of hits ; both , main actor and secondary character , such as : The Professional, The Big Blue , Godzilla, Ronin, Days and Nights , The Crimson Rivers I and II , Wasabi , 22 Bullets , Alex Cross , Pink Panther , Cash , Armored , and many others . His son is well played by Gaspard Ulliel as Anton Malakian who has disowned his past, as he wishes quiet life, as he dreams of breaking free and making his own choices , he would like to forget that part of his life ,as he has found peace by retiring from the "business" along with his girlfriend Elodie finely performed by Vahina Giocante , she is a nice match with Gaspard . Good production design , adding colorful exteriours and adequate interior . Excellent soundtrack by Alain Krenski that elevates the emotion and the intensity of the scenes to new heights . Brilliant as well as evocative cinematography filmed on location by Laurent Machuel .

Laurent Tuel did a formidable job with this Le premier cercle (2009) in similar style to Les Lyonnais (2011) . Tuel is a good writer/producer/director of nice movies . He then wrote the first draft of the screenplay himself, and so on ; being based on a original idea by Laurent Turner and Laurent Tuel himself . Tuel is a notorious writer/director who has directed a few films , TV movies and shorts , such as : Children's Play , Jean-Philippe , Le combat ordinaire , Le grande boucle , Le rocher d'Acapulco , Speakerine (TV Series) and Hillbilly Chainsaw Massacre (Short) . rating : 6.5/10 . Decent French thriller .

So disappointed

[douglas-b-meyer · 4/10 · 14 October 2012]

This movie could have been so much better. The cast, the location, even the plot (thin as it was) was good. Especially the cast. I expect great things of Jean Reno. Perhaps the budget caused the director to pinch things.

I did like the homage to The Godfather with the scene following where the grocery bag falls to the pavement. Nice touch.

There could have been so much more, but the movie felt hollow. The actual heist itself seemed to me almost an afterthought. Such a pity, because the drama could really have been built there step by step, scene by scene. I kept waiting for the payoff. Frankly, I was confused at which player took the bullet until the denouement. The last third of the movie was muddy, or perhaps 'smoky'.

I really wish that I could rank this movie higher than I did, but that's show biz, I guess.

boiler plate gangster flic

[filmalamosa · 6/10 · 21 May 2012]

Very handsome young gangster wants to leave the family business and lead a normal life but he needs money so one last heist.

Other reviewers cover the story in detail so I will not and just give my overall impressions.

No, this is not a great movie. However it is OK and entertaining.

The production values are low rent trying to be high rent. What do I mean? Well there are great shots from the air but they don't grab you like they do in a comparable film like Anthony Zimmerman.

The story is predictable and full of holes....you don't attack an airport and plane any more without getting the entire national defence force down on you--France has lots of Mirage fighters and so forth that would have been scrambling.

I guess overall this is pretty good boiler plate gangster flic avec un accent Français. There are many better The Double Hour, The Aura etc....

Not the ultimate french Heat yet, but...

[searchanddestroy-1 · 7 March 2009]

I was very surprised and pleased to watch this fairly good french crime actionner. I did not expect so much. First, I tried it because it's a gangster film. But I don't like Jean Reno. Except in LE GRAND BLEU, or LEON - THE PROFESSIONNAL - he's always been bad actor, a lousy one. Made by a comedy films director for whom it's the only crime movie. And also a surprising sad ending.

In this movie, he's perhaps not at his best but his character is rather convincing. A gang leader whose the son - Ulliel - doesn't want to follow his father's group in his criminal activities; robberies under violence. This sounds familiar but the action sequences are pretty well done. Especially during the heist one, nearly the end. It reminds me an actual event, a daring robbery which occurred in France in August 1996, on the Perpignan Airport. But that's another story.

What's interesting in this feature is that it is not the good guys vs the bad guys scheme. The cop played by Bouadjila is not usual. He is not the sympathetic cop, but without being the nasty one either. Interesting indeed.

And, above all, the end is ABSOLUTELY surprising.

NO ONE would bet on it!!!

And I love that.

What the hell...

[xnrat · 3/10 · 17 October 2010]

...where the other reviewers watching? I don't write reviews very often. Most of the time I do it to do justice. To set all those reviews from a parallel dimension straight.

Inner Ring is not a good movie. It is not resourceful, the ending is not surprising and neither Reno, nor Ulliel have delivered their best performances here.

The character development in this movie is so bad, it will make you cringe. As is the storytelling. I am beginning to suspect that this is a French thing, as I have seen it before. Scenes are cut together, seemingly at random. No segways, no connection to other scenes. There are apparently huge leaps in time that the viewer is completely unaware of, until a scene just doesn't make any sense. You will think "Oh, I guess some months went by" and maybe even shrug your shoulders. And slowly you will begin to lose interest in this movie. The characters apparently develop off-screen. Which is a bad thing, because this is a friggin' movie! You are supposed to see what is going on. So the audience can build a relationship with the characters. This movie fails in doing so.

I conclude with the plead to look at the overall rating, which is not very good. Please, don't believe any review that rates this movie higher than 5.

Wasted Potential

[sunraider · 7/10 · 22 March 2011]

Milo Malikian (Jean Reno) is the head of an Armenian "crime family" in the south of France that is about to pull off a daring multi-million euro heist. But his dreamy son, Anton, is more interested in starting a family with the lovely nurse Elodie than continuing with the family business, much to his father's disappointment. To complicate matters, a police inspector who's crossed paths with the Malikians in the past is hot on the trail. There are some really nice elements in this film (lovely southern France location shots and appealing and charismatic actors), but while the build-up to the heist is well done, the film seems incomplete, and that's not referring only to the weirdly truncated ending. Potential themes are introduced in the film but never developed. Historical footage of the Armenian genocide introduces the film, but its relevancy to the current Malikian family and business is never explored. The police inspector on their trail is warned by his superior not to become obsessed with taking down the Malikian clan, but other than the fact that we was part of an operation that resulted in the death of Milo's eldest son, there's no development of his character or particular obsession. The unsatisfying ending feels as if the budget ran out and the filmmaker had to cut it short. Enjoyable, but not quite France's version of "Heat" either.

Lacking

[damianphelps · 3/10 · 31 January 2021]

Firstly I had the misfortune of watching an English dubbed version which was simply horrible.

Aside from that the actual movie wasn't much better.

None of the characters are likeable so who cares what happens to them?

In Peace sons bury their fathers, in War fathers bury their sons

[CihanVercan · 7/10 · 8 October 2009]

That statement of the Greek historian Herodotus chimes in with this movie whereby both of Malakian's sons were killed during gunfights with the police. Sticked in my memory; previously in Troy(2004) when his son Hector got killed, the King of Troy had gone to knee before Achilles and also very famously in Godfather(1972), Marlon Brando's character had endured in silence of his son Sonny's assassination. There are more examples to that case in earlier movies, yet those were the most remarkable ones for me. Jean Reno played the heartless father here, he caused the death of his son. His way of playing the role of his character was mediocre and occasionally it set out several instabilities.

It wouldn't even have surprised me when Reno began crying whilst holding his son's corpse, who got killed trying to save his life. The main reason for that is because there was not a sign of concord between Jean Reno and Gaspard Ulliel. It wouldn't be wrong to compare Ulliel and Reno here, since it's very clear to eye that Reno gave one of his worst performances while Ulliel giving his best. Yet, even after this comparison, even Reno played his worst performance while Ulliel played his best; still Reno acted better. So, if you are watching Le Premier Cercle for one of these stars you won't like the movie. Oppositely, if you liked the movie you won't like the performances of the stars here.

Le Premier Cercle continues the endless tales of immigrant crime stories that Jean-Christophe Grangé brought to mind. A family escapes from the Armenian holocaust during the World War-I in Turkey. By time the family get involved in the illegal trade of sensitive items and weapons with overseas. When history leaves its heritage to the power of the underworld empire in our present time, we know that no matter what thriller story is created the result is always same: Whoever has the power and the authority wins the lawsuit.

Almost one third of this film is dealing with the common rat race between the police and the mafia. The next one third slice is crime and action which is not offering anything special or new. Finally the last one third section(apart from the erotic and dramatic segments) is a must-see suspense. Accordingly those segments come to vision very purely that editing is so simplemindedly offering us an easy-to-watch popcorn flick.

The actual wonderingly awaited scenes ,which are mixed brilliantly with suspense and high tension, start when you feel that the story has begun to create a new and unexpected story. Plot has been installed with a high potential, such that when the story begins to expand; it becomes like a puzzle with "How?" and "Why?" questions coming to mind, which are getting their answers at the end. It's a film that heroes and stars die, villains live. When the moment comes shocking incidents begin to occur and from now on it's hard to guess what happens next. I strongly advise Le Premier Cercle to anybody who likes surprise suspenses.

A LOT OF BORING SCENES

[nogodnomasters · 3/10 · 24 June 2019]

The movie centers around the Malakian crime family, an Armenian heritage family living in France. Anton is the son of the crime boss. He wants out, but doesn't want to offend his family so he stays in because he is now French and sits on a fence post. The cops are after the family, but are too ineffective to make a case against them. The movie starts out with a clever car theft, but then quickly digresses in a series of boring scenes. You don't get to feel for any of the characters, and you are confused as to which side to root for. You just wish somebody would do something. The family plans a final ultimate heist which will succeed if the French cops are too stupid to use their radio to stop their get away.

The music at times was more fit for a B horror movie. Brief nudity, sex, and a little violence. Keep the fast forward on the remote handy.

For me all this is over. I'll leave you with your ghosts.

[lastliberal-853-253708 · 7/10 · 20 January 2012]

I love Jean Reno (Leon: The Professional, Godzilla, Ronin, The Crimson Rivers). That may color my impression of the film as a whole. He plays an Armenian mafia head in France. He is cool, tough, and everything I have always loved about his acting.

Gaspar Ulliel (A Very Long Engagement) plays his son, Anton. Anton wants out of the mob and wants to live a normal life with his love Elodie, played by Vahina Giocante (Lila Says).

Sami Bouajila (Days of Glory, The Siege) is Saunier, the police inspector trying to catch the gang as they plan one last heist that will set them up for life.

Director Laurent Tuel did not waste a second in this dark film. It was captivating from beginning to end, even if it turned out as expected. The soundtrack was excellent. It was worth watching just to hear it.

An example of a terrible movie

[boriska_gn · 3/10 · 13 January 2022]

In this case, I will not go into details, because they do not matter. Just after 10-15 minutes of watching this pointless action, you start asking the question - why am I wasting my time? What do all these faceless persons and their affairs means to me? Answer is, as a viewer, I just don't give a damn.

Another hatchet job by my fellow reviewers of a wonderful film

[socrates99 · 8/10 · 7 August 2010]

I'm a Jean Reno fan but he's only one of the great things about this movie. I will agree that the beginning is a little rough. You have to think about what's going on and let it go keep its own pace for awhile. But for all its lack of grace in the beginning, nothing fatal goes on and it easily makes up for it in Acts II and III.

This film is one of the most economical I've ever seen. There's hardly a wasted scene and the characters are all quite believable. Next to Jean Reno as Milo, the next most important role is played by Gaspard Ulliel as his son, Anton. The young man who plays Reno's son is quite capable and is a good match with Reno.

The story is a simple one: young man wants to leave the crime family he belongs to and go straight. I would say there's little new in the story but that's not quite right, on reflection there's a lot of very important detail that really makes the story come alive. I really admire this film's ability to elicit real crime techniques and ambiance, all while giving the audience an unforgettable travelogue of what I think was southern France. Suffice it to say, I intend to seek out this director's work from now on. His name is Laurent Tuel and I believe the man deserves quite a lot of credit.

The Armenian clan

[jotix100 · 6/10 · 21 April 2010]

The film begins with a newsreel account of the Armenian genocide of the last century. It doesn't serve any purpose because the story we are invited to watch is not about that horrible page in the history of that country, but one in which descendants of the fleeing Armenians, settled in France, have chosen a life of crime.

Milo Malakian, the ruthless head of the clan, rules supreme over his men. His own son, Anton, is part of the gang. Anton, alas, has a secret life. He has been having a hot affair with the nurse that is seeing his own grandmother. This young man has had it and wants to break away from his father and a life of crime. For that, he has set his eyes on a property he wants to turn into a sort of boutique hotel. Because of that, he must keep a low profile.

Milo, on the other hand, has something else in mind. He is planning a caper that will make him and his associates rich men. They want to steal the money transfer that will be taken on a commercial flight from a nearby airport. Saunier, the police inspector of the area, figures the group is up to no good. Keeping an eye on the money transfer, seems to be the right thing to do. Little prepares Saunier and his men for the way the Malakian gang will employ to get to the money.

Laurent Tuel directed this action film. The film reminds us of other pictures of the genre, although we must admit, it kept our attention. It is to Mr. Tuel's credit to have kept the pace in the movie, as it never became dull. The heist at the airport reminded us of a similar incident that occurred in France not too long ago. How closer is this story to what really happened, is not clear to us.

Jean Reno appears as Milo, the boss of the group. Gaspar Ulliel does justice to his Anton, a man that came from a criminal background and realizes there is much more to life because he has fallen in love for the beautiful Elodie, played by Vahina Giocante. Sami Bouajila is seen as Saunier, the police in pursuit of the bad guys.

Men in Black: not great, but a stylish crime thriller

[Chris Knipp · 7/10 · 18 August 2010]

Despite the Armenian church service and the historical introduction, the ethnic theme is a bit weak (and do the Armenians in real life actually have their own mafiosi?), and this hasn't the richness of Melville, or 'The Godfather,' or Téchiné's 'Les Voleurs.' But this film is satisfying precisely for the qualities that cause some to dismiss it: it's understated, elegant, and sensually pleasing, with beautiful images and a musical accompaniment far above genre and cool, classy criminals who project a sense of being fearless and professional. This is the kind of stylish European crime film with sleek cars, sunlit villas, and drives along the Riviera that you can enjoy for the atmosphere as much as anything else. Everyone dresses in black. Sami Bouajila's cop too (Bouajila the actor also himself a consummate professional, very solid here); his black outfits are just a bit dustier and shabbier. Gaspard Ulliel grows up here from most of his earlier roles (after already having become macho and heroic as the peasant hero of the 2007 'Jacquou le croquant') slicking his hair back, bulging out of his designer clothes, peering over his designer shades. Both he and Réno show very little emotion, projecting instead the dedication of stoical members of a tight clan. I don't know if you can believe Antona's plan of breaking away. How is he supposed to do that by taking over a hotel in the Camargue set up by somebody his father works with, right under his nose, and without the money for the down payment? This is less convincing and less well developed than something like Thomas Seyr (Romain Duris) wanting to become a concert pianist in Audiard's 'The Beat My Heart Skipped'. But this to me is like the beautiful, elegant 1957 'No Sun in Venice' ('Sait-on jamais'), directed by Roger Vadim, which a user wisely said is "worth it for the music and the visuals." Only 'Le premier cercle' ('The Ultimate Heist,' sadly generic title) doesn't have a classic sound track by the Modern Jazz Quartet. 'Le premier cercle' also relates to the Marseilles-based "Frank Riva" TV trilogy starring the aging, mellower Alain Delon. But 'Le premier cercle' is more stylish and restrained. It lets you wallow in cool.

Far from the ultimate

[Wizard-8 · 3 August 2010]

Although I mainly watch American films, I make a point of watching foreign films every so often for variety and to see a genre possibly done in a different way. When I saw this at the video store, I thought: "Cool! Jean Reno is a colorful actor, and the video box art and the title of the movie suggest that this will be jam-packed with action and suspense!" I rented it, took it home... and I was very disappointed. I could make a long list about everything that disappointed me about this movie. For starters, Jean Reno is in less of the movie than you might think. And as for action, there is almost no action in the entire running time! Still, the movie could have worked by showing us interesting drama or colorful and interesting other characters. But that's not what happens. The plot is VERY slow-moving, with a lot of boring chat that doesn't advance things very much. And the movie looks and sounds weird; the cinematography has a soft, washed-out look you often see in French movies, and the audio doesn't crackle with life (such as the fact that scene after scene goes by with no musical score in the background.) In fact, the movie has more of a made-for-TV feel than a theatrical film feeling.

I'll still take a chance on foreign films in the future, whether they are French or not. But I'll be more careful in my selections. I now know that foreign film companies can be like American film companies, promising something but delivering something else - and that "something else" not being very good at all.

A hard-boiled, slickly entertainingly, bullet-paced Policier!

[Weirdling_Wolf · 7/10 · 18 July 2023]

A hard-boiled, slickly entertainingly, bullet-paced Policier about an infamous Armenian crime family ruthlessly headed by powerful boss, Milo Malakian (Jean Reno). His rebellious, altogether less bloodthirsty son, Anton (Gaspard Ulliel) secretly wants out, enjoy some bucolic domesticity with his lava hot nurse fiancee, Elodie (Vahina Giocante). Needless to say his son's imminent defection, ever mounting paranoia, and the relentless hounding by vengeful L'inspecteur Saunier (Sami Bouajila) bodes ill for the fractured Malakian clan! While formulaic, the action is dynamically mounted, performances are uniformly credible, Alain Kremski's lyrical piano score is a delight, and the terse, volatile atmosphere is frequently redolent of a vintage Lenzi Polizioteschi! Laurent Tuel's consistently gripping 'Le Premier Cercle' is an above average Euro-crime thriller that, sadly, seems to have been overlooked. The desperate airplane heist is genuinely thrilling, and Jean Reno fans are in for a real treat. If 'Le Premier Cercle' had been shot in the late 60s, I could readily see, Alain Delon as Anton, and burly Lino Ventura as Milo!

A Taut Heist Thriller

[zardoz-13 · 8/10 · 18 November 2010]

Writer & director Laurent Tuel's "Le premier cercle" qualifies as a gritty, hard-boiled heist thriller about a pugnacious clan of Armenian mobsters in France. Jean Reno stars as the ruthless father and crime boss Milo Malakian. He remains unscathed throughout this well-staged dramatic shoot'em up. Nevertheless, his life of crime exacts a tragic toll on his family. Gaspard Ulliel plays Milo's handsome son Anton Malakian who isn't sure that a criminal career is best for him. He wants to invest in a small motel and raise horses. Anton falls in love with the pretty young nurse, Elodie (Vahina Giocante) who takes care of his grandmother. Interestingly enough, Reno's tough guy protagonist never sees the inside of a jail cell. When Reno and his larcenous family aren't trying to kill French police inspector L'inspecteur Saunier, they are feuding with each other over the girl that the son wants to wed. Moreover, the son follows reluctantly in the father's footsteps. The stolen car scene at the gas station at the outset of the action is neatly down. Reno's character has no qualms about openly attacking the police. In one scene, he recognizes a cop in a car near a dock and rams the car with the cop. The airport heist set-piece in the last half-hour and the son's struggle to go straight are electrifying. "Le premier cercle" is believable from fade-in to fade-out, and Tuel's 95-minute movie never wears out its welcome.