Rogue City is a French crime thriller about the anti-robbery/anti-gang division of the Marseille policy department. The story follows Vronski(Lannick Gautry) as he navigates and participates in an incredibly convoluted snarl of corruption with local drug traffickers and his own department.
Seemingly aping 80's US action films the cast all look and act straight out of the Stallone/Schwarzenegger heyday. There is little to no character development, little to no actual acting going on aside from either impassivity or sneering cruelty. And unlike the US 80's films from which it is seemingly inspired it has a nihilistic bleakness to it that prevents it from actually being fun.
Filmed on location in the south of France the locales are wonderful and every cop has a bafflingly gorgeous and large villa. The look of all the actors, virtually every character has long shaggy hair, is retro to the point of ludicrousness. The script is presumably some attempt at Training Day by way of the intensity of Deer Hunter and it is an astonishing failure. Every couple is cheating on each other(maybe that's just French or the scripts attempted shortcut to character), threats of rape are the criminals go-to, and the transparent and consistent corruption of the cops is presumably acceptable because of the circumstances, at least within the context of the story. The brief action sequences are decent but far from enough to balance out the vileness and tedium of the characters and narrative.
In a year mostly bereft of action fair due to scheduling delays Rogue City is definitively not even a mild substitute.
Currently streaming on Netflix.
Don't See It.
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