Lost Bullet is one of those foreign gems you’ll kick yourself for not having seen earlier when you finally watch it. It’s a French thriller about cars, tough good men, tough bad men, and the alternative to the John Wick action you didn’t know you needed in your life. It’s Mad Max for the 21st century. It’s got a kind of famous scene halfway through that I won’t spoil because I’d like you to discover it yourself.
Well, yesterday a friend asked me if I’d seen Lost Bullet 2. I had no idea there was a Lost Bullet 2! So I rectified that last night:
Wow, what a great follow-up to the original, plenty aware what made the first movie good and trying hard not to merely rehash it, but to progress it. Now with Spaniards! The first 10 minutes sets up the connection to the last movie, the next half hour doles out the exposition and action in equal measure, and then the final hour is basically a real-time run for the border* that will glory – wallow even! – in its love of all thing Renault (the Continental angle these movies bring to car culture yarns is much appreciated!). It does veer out of its lane a bit by trying to top the last movie, which I’m not sure it needed to do. But you can’t hold it against Lost Bullet 2 for realizing it’s going toe-to-toe with ten or more Fasts and Furiouses.
Anyway, Lost Bullet 2! To quote the lead character during a chase scene: “Woo-hoo!” (as per the subtitles, the French and English for “woo-hoo” are identical!)
* Uh…if your feel this is misleading after having seen the movie, it’s intentional!