Last week I watched a film called Black.  I knew nothing about it beforehand, but really enjoyed it.  Plenty of action, and it didn’t outstay its welcome at all. Here is what I wrote about it on Amazon.

What a strange, but ultimately enjoyable, film!

When Hollywood remakes this for a subtitle-hostile American audience (as surely they must) it will be interesting to see if they keep the supernatural element towards the end.

The film starts with a gritty portrayal of a failed armed robbery, ‘civilian’ casualties and all in Paris’ 18th arrondissement.  The only survivor gets a call from a cousin in Senegal about a big job there and takes the opportunity to get out of town.  Once in Senegal the film gets a bit lighter for a bit, with the planning for the jewel robbery being a bit like a traditional heist film.

Once in Africa the cast is almost exclusively black, apart from the pantomime villian and the hilariously cartoon-like Russian mercenary and his troops.  Fortunately the pace of the film stops you dwelling too long on just how poorly written and acted these characters are.

The hero, played by the wonderfully-named French rapper MC Jean Gab’1, holds it together well, teaming up with Carole Karemera as the female Interpol officer, while ever more groups of interested parties conspire to grab the gems. At no point are you more than a few minutes away from gunfire, car chases and explosions.

It all gets a bit weird at the end, which spoiled it a bit for me, but I think its safe to say this is the best French blaxploitation-action-witchcraft-caper-chase film I have seen for along time.