Athena (2022)

Athena (2022). Athena: Directed by Romain Gavras. With Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon, Ouassini Embarek. Hours after the tragic death of their youngest brother in unexplained circumstances, three siblings have their lives thrown into chaos.

“The one single take in the beginning, the first 12 minutes, is amazing and spectacular. Itu0026#39;s worth watching the movie just for this.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut the rest … everybody is pacing around really angry, screaming at each other. Like in a staged play. But somehow I was bored. And often even ennerved. The film was more passing bye than running through me.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI think the biggest mistake they made was not to show the killing of the boy in the beginning.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNote: when doing a revenge film, show at start why the hero has to take revenge. Show the injustice. Otherwise we wonu0026#39;t care.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eLike your fellow frenchman Gaspar Noe did it in Irreversible. Aaaangeeerrr !!!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eStorytelling is not so complicated. Just follow some simple rules. Like: wanna tell a revenge story? Fine. Show the injustice in the beginning. Otherwise we wonu0026#39;t care.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe actor for Karim was miscast. He seems to be on the edge of crying most of the time.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eLesson number too: the hero may bleed, but he shalt not cry.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhy the soldier brother blows himselfnup in the end was beyond me. Was probably done for the visuals. Didnu0026#39;t make any sense. It was grotesque. His transition was not believable for one second. The director should stick to music videos.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAlso the character of Sebastien is laughable. He is just a tool. An autist savant in the beginning, he turns into a cool professional bomb builder all of a sudden in the end. Why does he live in Athena anyway? He doesnu0026#39;t fit in.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film has great visuals, but no soul. The actors scream a lot, but itu0026#39;s just like dogs barking. A lot of noise, nothing behind it.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAt times even comical. Especially the scenes with the drug dealer brother are funny.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s often like that with films of directors who come from commercial videos: great visuals, but empty. Empty shells.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eCold spectacles we donu0026#39;t emphasize with.”