Point Blank (À Bout Portant)

 I love me a prelude that doesn't fuck around, and French action/thriller Point Blank's got a damn good one where a wounded man (Roschdy Zem) getts chased by two goons. It's ridiculously loud and energetic; doors get kicked, people slam into walls, and the whole thing ends with a surprise bit of violence that made me laugh out loud with joy.

 Once that madness is done, we get to spend a little time with the movie's actual protagonist - Samuel (Gilles Lellouche), an everyman spending some quality time at home with his very, very pregnant wife Nadia (Elena Anaya). He works as a nurse's aide over at a local hospital, and one of the patients most recently put into his care is - oh shit, the guy that was being chased in the introduction! On his next shift he notices one of the goons who were after patient x is back at it, trying to asphyxiate his quarry disguised as a doctor. Samuel chases him away.

 When Sam gets back home he starts humbly bragging about his good deed... and then gets knocked out as his wife is kidnapped.

 When he comes to, he gets a phone call: the bad guys have his wife, and will kill her unless he gets patient x out of the hospital. And instead of calling the police, that's what he does: first he has to outwit the police protection guarding the patient, then he shoots the patient full of adrenaline and manages to extract him successfully. But when Hugo (the patient) tries to go his own way once set free, Samuel pulls the gun he stole from the police guard and forces him to take him to his wife.

 From there, besides having to keep an eye on Hugo, Samuel needs to avoid the police, the goons from the beginning... and a third faction of led by a shady policeman (Gérard Lanvin, very effective) whom the movie does a very poor job disguising might be involved somehow.

 None of the characters have a lot of depth -the script is too lean to spend time developing anyone- but the mains are very likeable, and I really enjoyed how Samuel remains opposed to violence even as his ethics seem pretty malleable. Hugo is cool as hell, too, and the way his character's role in the movie keeps morphing as the backstory comes to light is really well done.
 The pacing is relentless; there's a lot of excellent stunts and action (including a few brilliant and very tense foot chases; Director Fred Cavayé really outdoes himself there), the plot twists and revelations come quick and steady, and there's not an ounce of flab in sight. Things do end up making sense... mostly. Many of the developments stretch credulity, but that's ok: It's all exactly the right kind of ridiculous.