Review of 36th Precinct

Gerard Depardieu gives a great performance in a film that, for my money, is more than a little over-rated. There's a decent story here and, in the right hands, I think it could have made a riveting film, but for some reason it simply fails to engage. Perhaps it's because too much is left unexplained. It's clear that Depardieu and Auteuil's characters were once friends but are now no more, and it is obliquely hinted at that Auteuil's wife is the reason, but that is all. So the reason for Depardieu being the gruff dislikeable bear with a drink problem is a mystery that makes it impossible to get under the skin of his character.

Too often the reasons for a character's behaviour are too sketchy, and the repercussions of those actions unrealistic. When Depardieu inadvertently causes the death of a colleague he is not reprimanded because the evidence of Auteuil is compromised by his own internal affairs hearing. And yet Depardieu's faux-pas is fuelled by a half-bottle of scotch he sinks in his car immediately before acting. Considering the degree of enmity felt for him by half the cops there I can't help thinking this would surely have been picked up on by his superiors. Things like this, occurring in films that are supposed to be grounded in reality, spoil a film for me and diminish the good work from the principal members of the cast.