In the grand tradition of holiday themed movies, Idris Elba and Richard Madden race to save Paris from a terrorist plot in Bastille Day, the kind of throwback action movie that would make Bruce Willis proud.
So, is it any good?
But just barely. Bastille Day is the kind of inoffensive action movie that Hollywood used to make quite regularly (the 90’s is littered with them), and as such it’s not a bad time in the cinema, it’s just not going to change your world. This movie is a bunch of cliches and weird choices wrapped up in some nice action set pieces and lead by a towering performance from Elba (seriously the man is a giant).
The plot, if you need to know that, involves CIA tough guy Sean Briar (Elba) on the trial of terrorists that have carried out an attack on Paris. Pouty con-artist Michael Mason (Madden) gets caught in the middle, and before you can say “Die Hard With A Vengeance” they’re joining forces to stop another impending attack on, you guessed it, Bastille Day.
As you can probably guess, this movie borrows heavily from previous action flicks (predominantly the Die Hard franchise), with a handful of modern touches to attempt to make us think we’re watching something new (“Release the hashtags!”). If the plotting feels recycled, at least the fight scenes deliver, with a rooftop chase and a van punch up the definite standouts. The biggest issue I have with this movie is why do they have three main actors (Elba, Madden, and Kelly Reilly) who are British playing American agents? The movie doesn’t gain anything from having the CIA in it, they could have just as easily been British agents (it probably would’ve made more sense actually).
This is a YES based mostly on one thing… Idris Elba. The rest of the cast may as well not even be there, such is the presence and charisma of Big Dris. Go see this to witness Elba’s extended audition to take over the James Bond franchise… let’s just make this happen already!
BASTILLE DAY is in theatres now.