The Stronghold (Bac Nord)

 French action thriller The Stronghold is named after a large housing project in Northern Marseille where criminals parade proudly outside, doing criminal shit out in the open, and the police don't dare to tread.
 That's the international version; It's originally titled after the name of the police force that has that beat under its jurisdiction.

 The film follows the exploits of three cops working in the area, a lively bunch of larger-than-life action heroes that wouldn't be too out of place in a Fast and Furious film. You've got the leader, Greg (Gilles Lellouche), circumspect and stoic. Yass (Karim Leklou), the family man, the one with scruples. And last but not least Antoine (François Civil), the rookie-ish young 'un whose topknot marks him as kind of a douchebag.

 They're not above bending the law a little and abusing their authority when it suits them, but that's ok because deep down they care, so their corruption is mostly played for laughs. If that sort of thing bothers you, well... it gets way worse; If you can roll with that it mostly works because despite having the visual language of a gritty, more realistic policier, the movie's tone is pretty heightened, much closer to am over-the-top action movie.

 After establishing their day-to-day routine of catching petty criminals and sometimes going above and beyond expectations (and common sense) to make more of a dent in the criminal element, Greg is approached by his boss (Cyril Lecomte) to plan a huge raid on the the titular criminal stronghold.

 But. To get some critical information, they need to pay an informant (Adèle Exarchopoulos) with five kilos of hash. Because the boss rightly balks at giving them the drugs from impounded evidence (as he rightly points out, it would go right back into the streets), the heroic trio makes the brilliant decision to steal the drugs from consumers. With the boss's implicit approval.

 It's a bone-headed, ridiculously stupid decision, so evidently wrong on so many levels that I thought was setting up a left turn at some point... and that's only partially correct. In the short term their stings go off almost without a hitch, even when they do it in the dumbest possible way, just parking around the corner from a dealer's den and straight out stopping anyone who comes from that direction and stealing their shit.

 When the dealers come out they basically posture and then run away, no other consequence; how the hell they could keep their turf is never explained. It's hilarious.

 After that and a light-hearted montage of drug acquisition, the trio gets the intel they need and we get to the film's centerpiece. The raid itself is an excellent collection of choppy, nervy action sequences; I mean, it's not credible by any measurement (the number of criminals on any given scene depends on script needs entirely), but it's well put together, fun and tense in equal measure. And it's a big success; the sting nets a bunch of high-level criminals and a lot of merchandise.

 So our heroes become public heroes as well... until the other shoe drops. Turns out they were under investigation by internal affairs the whole time, and the powers that be for some reason have a dim view on their drug-hijacking hijinks.

 From there the movie becomes a Serious with capital S police drama, as the world turns against these completely blameless individuals and Greg, Yass and Antoine try to fight the rap and prove themselves.

 It's a deadly serious movie about some very silly shit. It uses action movie clichés to lionize its three protagonists, so when they're held up to scrutiny it's presented as the biggest injustice ever. All of which is torpedoed because... well, what the fuck did they expect? I loved it when the news mention that the people they incarcerated might be released if they're indicted. Extremely manipulative stuff for a certain kind of viewer, like the judge letting a killer go in a vigilante movie.

 But once again it works out because it's so damn over-the-top. I think playing it so seriously is the right choice; Once you get into its loopy mindset and accept the guys as a bunch of Dirty Harrys, you can enjoy the effective police drama elements without taking it as seriously as it's apparently intended.
 The action is good for what it is - don't go in expecting good choreography or cool stunts, as director Cedric Jimenez shoots for a more immediate, disorienting effect with mostly interesting results; it's not my favorite style of action, but it fits the movie and what's happening is clear at all times. Some good car and foot chases, and a good sense of fighting overwhelming odds.

 The script (by Jimenez and Audrey Diwan) also finds space for some humor, the highlight being a completely strung out juvenile offender who keeps insulting the cops until they find a song on the radio he likes. The acting is very solid across the board, with the main trio selling their differing balances between world-weariness and idealism, and it's fun to watch their extremely macho bonding. It's very much a lad's movie.

 I had Cedric Jimenez in the doghouse for so badly botching the HHhH adaptation. To be honest this doesn't even begin to make up for that, but taken on its own, and on the spirit I think it's proffered it's a pretty decent watch.