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Today, we have a rare guest in the center of our attention – the French-produced TV series “Watching Marseille”, or “Bloody Coast”, which was released on Netflix on Wednesday, December 6. On paper, it looked like a gritty crime thriller, and after watching all six episodes, we’re ready to share our impressions and tell you what the project really is.
Pros:
at first the series looks quite interesting; up to a certain point, the authors manage to create a high-quality atmosphere; attempts to tell a dark criminal story can be considered partially successful
Cons:
creators fail to use the full potential of their idea; lack of interesting characters (and there are a lot of them here); sterile action; fight with “Santa Barbara”
5.5/10
Estimated by ITC.ua
“On the watch of Marseille” / Pax Massilia
Genre crime thriller, action movie
Directors Olivier Marshall, Ivan Fegieveres
In roles Jeanne Gurso, Nicolas Duvauchel, Taufik Jallab, Florence Thomassin, Moussa Maaskri
Premiere Netflix
Graduation year 2023
Site IMDb
Marseille is restless. While a team of police officers from the anti-narcotics unit, led by Les Benamar, tries to prevent the spread of a deadly substance on the city streets, a new player appears on the field. This is a mysterious figure nicknamed The Indian, who strikes fear into all the local small-time drug dealers and tries to take over the territory belonging to the crime lord Ali Saidi.
Meanwhile, Interpol agent Alice Vidal arrives in the city from Paris, who sincerely believes that her father’s killer, the brutal criminal Franck Murillo, is still alive, although he is officially considered dead. Alice joins Benamar’s squad, and now they must restore order to the city before the criminal wars drown Marseille in blood.
The situation is complicated by the fact that the internal investigations department and, in particular, Agent Miranda, who needs evidence of foul play by the local police, are interfering in the affairs of Benamar and his subordinates. But is it possible to counter the brutal criminal world without using its weapons?
The most famous among the authors of “Bloody Coast” is, of course, Olivier Marchal – a former police officer and director of the hit “36 Orfebvre Embankment” with a number of nominations for “Cesar”. It inherits the good old traditions of the polar genre. From the latter, “On the Guard of Marseille” borrowed a clear bias towards police crime films, but, on the other hand, the plot here is completely devoid of detective intrigue. All pieces are laid out on the board and ready for battle.
Instead of attempts at detective work, the creators of the series rely more on the action component and passions of the Santa Barbara team.
In six episodes lasting 50 minutes, revenge for a murdered son, revenge for a murdered father is planned here, not to mention that one of the characters learns about the existence of a 6-year-old daughter (the DNA test will never be revealed to the viewer, but it is hardly worth waiting for surprises) . All these blood feuds, gunfights, completely grim faces and grim gloom are amply spiced up with upbeat French rap.
On the one hand, “Bloody Coast” prefers to seem like a serious crime thriller/action about equally serious uncles in the style of films like “22 Bullets: Immortal” with Jean Reno. Where, by the way, events also take place in Marseille. And on the other hand, the story reveals barely noticeable signs of a frivolous entertaining action movie of the type “Thirteenth District” with its French urban setting. It is interesting that the name of Luc Besson appears in the credits of both projects.
However, Marshall and company still failed to take the best from their famous predecessors. Their brainchild looks more complex in detail than it is required. But globally, this story is so simple that it could easily be packed into the format of a standard full-length film, without spreading the plot over six episodes.
The local team of cops, which proudly calls itself “Crazy” (not “Irresistible” – and thanks for that), does not cause any admiration either. Already from the very first frames, one of the heroines walks in the frame in the McClain manor to immediately clarify which test she is made of. But in the future, the cool girl does not show herself in any way. And in general, none of the members of the squad looks interesting, so it is not at all surprising that by the third episode, the viewer is left with something to be bored. There is simply no one to root for here.
At the same time, it cannot be said that action is capable of changing the situation for the better. The creators offer lazily staged, if not mechanistic shootouts. In some scenes, it is easy to guess the simple tactics of fighting from “Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Cowboy”, where the villains simply lined up in a row, firing machine guns. Maybe in the 90s it could pass for coolness, but now it’s not impressive at all. When someone runs, the operator immediately resorts to the effect of a shaking camera, and such a principled sequence is quite nerve-wracking.
As a result, Watch Marseille is an unremarkable story about a criminal showdown in Marseille, with a place for a “Stallone-like drug dealer in Rocks” and tough guys with machine guns, and even almost leads to the fatal consequences of an erotic lesbian scene . Only all these interesting attributes do not want to line up in a coherent and expressive picture, which is difficult not to look at.
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Conclusion:
“Bloody Coast” is a mediocre, sterile series that has absolutely nothing to surprise the viewer.
