Paradise Beach  ★★★

IF YOU don’t know actor Sami Bouajila you haven’t watched enough French action thrillers.

Bouajila has carved out a niche playing the calm, calculating cop, criminal or a combination of both who can suddenly explode into action.

His sleepy facial features and measured tones mesmerise the audience, particularly those who know from experience the events that will inevitably come.

In the 2019 action thriller Paradise Beach Bouajila plays Mehdi, the leader of a gang of thieves we join at the start of the film in a ferocious gun battle with police on the street.

Mehdi is injured and tells the others to leave him behind. As a consequence he spends 15 years in jail.

The film jumps to Mehdi’s release and flight to southern Thailand where the other gang members, including Mehdi’s brother, have made new lives using the stolen millions.

First stop is brother Hicham’s impressive home, complete with servants, pool and wife and daughters.

They catch-up with another of the gang at his nightclub and then all are reunited for a boat trip with women and booze to a secluded beach.

Throughout this time the audience is waiting for Mehdi to drop the hammer on the others and demand his share of the money, which he does on the beach.

When Mehdi is given a variety of reasons why the money isn’t available he demands Hicham sort things out but has to get involved himself due to the actions of local criminal gangs.

Hicham and the others have tried to resolve the situation through talk along, but Mehdi is having none of that.

“If you think violence doesn’t solve things, then you aren’t hitting hard enough” he retorts.

The tension and violence that follows is fuelled by race divisions and doesn’t always take a predictable path.

If you like the tough and uncompromising Gallic crime cinema style you should enjoy this entry.

Watched on Netflix