Efficient B series which goes straight to the point and does not bother with unnecessary digressions, the French director (Julien Leclercq) returns with this action movie to a rural western but via Netflix.
Let's admit... Earth and blood is not a "big film" but a decent B series which ensures a constant spectacle and which keeps the spectator alert throughout its 1 hour and 20 minutes.
The plot is very simple: a guy who has little to lose will defend what he has left, namely his daughter and his moral values, against the assault of gangsters who come armed to the teeth to recover a bag full of drugs.
Sami Bouajila has the potential of the job to shine in genre cinema and the talent to give substance to characters however archetypal. And facing him, Eriq Ebouaney brings all his charisma to an implacable and cruel bad guy.
The dialogues clearly play on the economy, the cutting is sharp and the director takes care of his staging without necessarily seeking the beautiful image. He willingly summons a certain imagery of the western which fits into his story.
Basically, the film finds its identity as a rural western with big touches of country survival and siege film. As a matter of fact, there's an old tradition of French genre cinema that Eric Valette had unearthed with Le Serpent aux mille coupures. Here and there one would think of Total Western, Canicule or La Traque.
When the hunt takes place, the action becomes more and more present and the suspense settles permanently. There are sequences of chases in the forest of a rather ectic energy, sequences worthy of an undercover thriller in which the decor is largely involved, short shootings but still effective and well constructed, and even some scenes which leave a good place for savagery or even gore (in the sawmill).
Little room for nuance in this movie, with the good guys on the one side going to run up against the bad guys who attack them, but isn't that all that is asked with this kind of production: Efficiency and little small talk! Even if one can sometimes regret a somewhat dull photograph, seeking to transcribe the greyness of the Ardennes.
Let's admit... Earth and blood is not a "big film" but a decent B series which ensures a constant spectacle and which keeps the spectator alert throughout its 1 hour and 20 minutes.
The plot is very simple: a guy who has little to lose will defend what he has left, namely his daughter and his moral values, against the assault of gangsters who come armed to the teeth to recover a bag full of drugs.
Sami Bouajila has the potential of the job to shine in genre cinema and the talent to give substance to characters however archetypal. And facing him, Eriq Ebouaney brings all his charisma to an implacable and cruel bad guy.
The dialogues clearly play on the economy, the cutting is sharp and the director takes care of his staging without necessarily seeking the beautiful image. He willingly summons a certain imagery of the western which fits into his story.
Basically, the film finds its identity as a rural western with big touches of country survival and siege film. As a matter of fact, there's an old tradition of French genre cinema that Eric Valette had unearthed with Le Serpent aux mille coupures. Here and there one would think of Total Western, Canicule or La Traque.
When the hunt takes place, the action becomes more and more present and the suspense settles permanently. There are sequences of chases in the forest of a rather ectic energy, sequences worthy of an undercover thriller in which the decor is largely involved, short shootings but still effective and well constructed, and even some scenes which leave a good place for savagery or even gore (in the sawmill).
Little room for nuance in this movie, with the good guys on the one side going to run up against the bad guys who attack them, but isn't that all that is asked with this kind of production: Efficiency and little small talk! Even if one can sometimes regret a somewhat dull photograph, seeking to transcribe the greyness of the Ardennes.