lastliberal
James Frain (Sunshine, Reindeer Games) plays what is probably the most vicious criminal around. He forces Eriq Ebouaney (Hitman, Crimson Rivers 2: Angels of the Apocalypse), a bank security guard, to assist him in a robbery or his family will suffer. The cops are on him almost immediately, but he can't talk.They take his wife (Fatou N'Diaye) and son as hostages, and he lets them into the bank, but they were not prepared for his next step.His past was not something they were prepared to deal with, and he used it to bring his full fury down on them and save his boy. He is assisted by some countrymen who also know what to do with a knitting needle and Viagra.His boy safe, the ghost of Father Joseph will exact retribution once again.
dfgrayb
What starts off looking like a routine action thriller about a bank heist gradually becomes something much more. Eriq Ebouaney is a security guard at a bank, whose family is kidnapped to force him to assist in the robbery.The film is in many respects a revisiting of the John Wayne/John Ford classic The Searchers, in that the viewer gradually realizes that the ostensible plot (the bank robbery) is not really at the center of the film. Just as in The Searchers, where the film is really about Wayne's search to find his own humanity and not his niece who has been captured by the Comanches, so too in The Front Line, Ebouaney's pursuit to rescue his family is his search to find his own redemption as a human being. Over the course of the film, because of the fine performances and direction, we are drawn into Ebouaney's internal pain and love, and we almost want to say to him "Be at peace. Your soul is good." This is a remarkable and moving film. Successful on many levels. Ebouaney's performance is stunning. The plot, which begins as a bank robbery, becomes a story that is breathtakingly beautiful, powerful, and unforgettable.
simon-psykolog
I saw this movie as one that tried both to entertain and to be political. This mix could be dangerous in the sense that both of these goals very well could be ruined. But I think that the movie succeeded on both accounts.Joe Yumba is a black man who arrives to Ireland from Congo and is granted permission to stay and find work to his joy and relief. He seems honest but at the same time you get the feeling that he is hiding something. He is very soon put to the test as the local mafia wants to exploit him to rob the bank where he has found work as a security guy. Through the story that follows you slowly get to know what he has been through in Congo.In some respects it resembles many action movies but the characters in this one are more vibrant and believable than what you are used to in the Hollywood productions and this is really what makes this movie stand out.I give this one 7/10.Regards Simon
joegreene32
This isn't a bad attempt at an Irish crime movie. While James Frain hams it up as a baddie, Eric Ebouaney is very watchable as an asylum seeker looking to settle in the city. He is man with a secret just trying to get by and escape his past in the Congo. His wife and son arrive to be with him, but all is not what it seems. Taking a job as a security guard at a bank, he is soon in the thick of it, the victim of a from the headlines tiger kidnapping. When things go awry as they invariably do in this genre piece, there is hell to pay. Getting into bed with a gang of African racketeers a first in an Irish film the film subtly examines the plight of a refugee in an alien country, albeit against a heightened backdrop. The performances from Ebouaney and Hakeem Kae Kazim are good, though the Irish characters, particularly the police, are a little stiff. Camera-work is good and the soundtrack contemporary. The twist at the end is okay. Certainly an improvement on the director's first outing Cowboys and Angels. Warning: Brendan Gleeson is not in this film.
AD
