Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.0

22 Bullets Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov March 1, 2011

Gallic director Richard Berry's "L'immortel" a.k.a "22 Bullets" (2010) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Anchor Bay-UK. The supplemental features on the disc include two trailers; interviews with cast and crew members; making of featurette; and footage from a press-conference held in France. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

They want you dead

Jean Reno is Charly Mattei, an aging crime boss living with his family in the beautiful city of Marseilles. Less than ten minutes into the film he is gunned down in an underground parking lot by a group of masked assassins. One of the assassins also blasts Mattei's favorite puppy.

Mattei is transported to a nearby hospital where the doctors take 22 bullets from his body. Somehow he escapes death and begins to recuperate. Eventually, he regains his ability to speak. One of the first people to visit him in the hospital is Tony Zacchia (Kad Merad. Les irréductibles, Safari), also a crime a boss. Mattei and Zacchia go back a long way. Zacchia vows to find out who’s behind the attack on Mattei and put him in a coffin. A couple of days later, someone attempts to kill Mattei in the hospital.

Fastforward. Mattei gets out and does a little bit of research on his own. He quickly discovers that it is Zacchia who wants him dead. One of Mattei's best men, Karim (Moussa Maaskri, Comme les cinq doigts de la main, The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec), urges him to declare war on Zacchia and kill him before he does. While Mattei is trying to make up his mind, police Detective Marie Goldman (Marina Fois, Un coeur simple) goes after him.

Things get out of control when Karim is killed and his body fed to a few of Zacchia's dogs. Mattei vows to track down and kill every single one of the men who fired at him in the underground parking lot, as well as his old friend, Zacchia.

There is no groundbreaking material in Richard Berry’s revenge thriller L'immortel (distributed in various English-speaking territories under the alternative title 22 Bullets). Right from the get-go it is made perfectly clear in what direction the story will be heading, and with the exception of a couple of interesting twists, there are absolutely no surprises.

Nevertheless, L'immortel is a genuinely entertaining film. Though looking slightly overweight, Reno is back in form, looking terrific as the aging crime boss who has to confront various men he has trusted in the past. He rarely speaks but his wrinkled face tells us everything we need to know about him - which is why Berry’s camera spends a great deal of time studying it.

There are various strong secondary characters who add plenty of color to the film. Merad's paranoid gangster who has broken old promises looks sharp, though his violent outbursts are a bit over the top. His wedding speech, however, is very good.

Fois is also convincing as the alcoholic cop looking for answers. Like Mattei, she also has a good reason to dislike Zacchia, who has irreversibly damaged her life. Her reaction to a rather strange request at the end of the film is unbelievable but not surprising.

The production values are first-rate, with cinematographer Thomas Hardmeier (The Black Box, Chrysalis) lensing amongst the key reasons why L'immortel impresses – the various panoramic vistas from Marseilles are top-notch and the fast action scene excellent. Camille Delamarre's (Transporter 3) editing is also competent.

Note: Last year, L'immortel was screened at the Edinburgh Film Festival and Hamburg Fantasy Filmfest in Germany.

22 Bullets Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Richard Berry's L'immortel (a.k.a 22 Bullets) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Anchor Bay-UK.

All Anchor Bay-UK had to do to have an excellent Blu-ray release of L'immortel was port the high-definition transfer EuropaCorp. used for their Blu-ray release of the film in France. In fact, they could have even 'borrowed' the optional English subtitles that come with it and only add up the supplemental features they wanted on their release. It would have been so easy. Instead, someone took the extra time to crop the film from its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1 to 1.78:1, and I have absolutely no idea why. What is really strange, however, is that this 'new' high-definition transfer actually looks very strong; in fact, excluding the cropping mentioned above it is practically identical to the French high-definition transfer. But the cropping is very disturbing, and there is absolutely no way one could tolerate it. Really bizarre story! In any event, if you are interested in adding L'immortel to your collections, at the moment I would suggest that you consider the French release (very soon, however, we will also have a review for the Canadian release, so if you reside in a Region-A territory and do not have a Region-Free player you might want to wait a bit to see how it compares to the French release). (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

22 Bullets Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and French LPCM 2.0. For the record, Anchor Bay-UK have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

I no longer have the French disc with me to directly compare specific scenes, but the French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track sounds fantastic. For example, the execution scene is definitely a reference quality material, while the opera excerpts convey very pleasing organic qualities. On the other hand, the dialog is crisp, clean, stable, and exceptionally easy to follow. There are no disturbing pops, cracks, hissings, or audio dropouts to report in this review either.

22 Bullets Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• 22 Bullets in Marseilles - director Richard Berry, Jean Reno, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, and Kad Merad discuss L'immortel. In French, with optional English subtitles. (6 min, 1080/50i).

• Original Trailer - in French, with optional English subtitles. (2 min, 1080/50i).

• Theatrical Trailer - in English, not subtitled. (2 min, 1080p).

• Making of - a standard featurette with footage from the film and various commentaries by cast and crew members. In French, with optional English subtitles. (27 min, 1080i).

• Interviews - a gallery of interviews with various cast and crew members discussing the production history of L'immortel, its main characters, message, etc. In French, with optional English subtitles.
  
  -- Richard Berry (10 min, 1080/50i)
  -- Jean Reno (8 min, 1080/50i)
  -- Kad Merad (14 min, 1080/50i)
  -- Marina Fois (7 min, 1080/50i)
  -- Jean-Pierre Darroussin (9 min, 1080/50i)

22 Bullets Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I could only guess why Anchor Bay-UK failed to present Richard Berry's L'immortel in its original aspect ratio. If you are interested in adding the film to your collections, at the moment I would suggest that you take a look at the French release. RENT IT.