Review: 'Chrysalis' is definitely not one of those sidey films

Film: Future Cop (aka Chrysalis)
Cast: Albert Dupontel, Estelle Lefebure, Marie Guillard, Marthe Keller, Melanie Thierry, Alain Figlarz, Patrick Bachau.
Director: Julien Leclercq
Rating: * * *

A sci-fi thriller, the French film Chrysalis was re-christened as Future Cop for the Indian market. 

The fact that the film was also being released in a dubbed Hindi version as Maut Ka Avatar probably prompted the unnecessary name-change! This is definitely not one of those sidey films that you’d expect. It’s a solid, impeccably shot, sharply edged, robust thriller.

It’s 2020, and gay Paris is the place of  scintillating action. A High-tech surgeon  Bruegen(Mathe Keller)  and her daughter are involved in a horrible accident.

Someplace else there’s a pitched gun battle being waged between Police officer David Hoffman (Albert Dupontel) and his wife against a Bulgarian secret service renegade Dimitri (Alain Figlarz). David’s wife is killed in the battle and the shattered cop with a new partner (Marie Guillard)  in tow sets out to wreak revenge.

The story is basically culled out from the familiar. Glimpses of Eyes without a face, Blade runner, A clockwork orange and several other sci-fi classics’ flash through your mind as the narrative progresses through to it’s ultimate culmination.

The film has all the genre staples, a muscular agile hero and some sexy women to boost-up it’s view-ability quotient. Thomas Hardmeir’s cinematography is visually compelling.

The CGI and FX stunt work are amplified to provide maximum thrills. The sequence during the credits involving a factory floor fight in close quarters sets the tone up beautifully for what comes next.

There’s nothing new in what transpires thereafter but it’s all dusted and cleaned –up so spiffily (you can’t help but enjoy the visual pyrotechnics)that you won’t begrudge it’s inherent staleness!