High-Octane
Summary
AKA isn’t quite as action-packed as the Lost Bullet trilogy, but it still has its moments with an unpredictable story and impressive shoot-outs. It could have had a few more fight scenes to ramp up the pacing, but it’s still an intense ride.
Plot: A steely special ops agent finds his morality put to the test when he infiltrates a crime syndicate and unexpectedly bonds with the boss’s young son.
Review: AKA Came out on a Netflix a couple of years ago, but I’d never watched it until this past weekend. Alban Lenoir (The Lost Bullet Trilogy) plays Adam Franco, a special ops agent who goes undercover with a crime syndicate.
The first half is him infiltrating the gang and proving his worth by beating up anyone seen as a threat. While doing this he befriends young Jonathan (Noé Chabbat) seeing as his father (who is also the syndicate’s boss) Victor Pastore (Éric Cantona) essentially ignores him.
Adam is someone you want on your side as he’s an unstoppable force in a fight and can take down multiple adversaries with ease. I wish we got a few more actual fight scenes in the film, but what we get are awesome; the action highlight is when Adam goes on a one-man army rescue of Jonathan who gets kidnapped by a rival gang boss. Needless to say, there are some impressive shoot-outs and the violence feels real and visceral.
I did find it a little too long and like I said, it could have used a few more fight scenes just for pacing reasons.
As with any undercover story, AKA is at times unbearably tense as we are wondering if Adam will get found out. Victor is not someone you trifle with, and Erica Cantona has made quite the name for himself as an actor. He makes for an intimidating figure and believable villain.
Overall, AKA isn’t as action packed as the Lost Bullet Trilogy, but it still has its moments, and Alban Lenoir is really proving himself a new action star with great screen presence. We get some violent fight scenes and shoot-outs, and the story doesn’t quite go the way I expected making this worth checking out on Netflix.