It only takes one Netflix film to chase another, and while Lost Bullet 3 has just reclaimed the top spot for the platform's most-viewed feature films, its runner-up and former number 1 still has enough arguments to maintain its position in the SVoD service's Top 10. Despite everything, aside from curiosity, what could push Exterritorial, a German-American thriller with a desire for realism, to sustainably take center stage alongside other behemoths?
What is Exterritorial about?
Sara is a former member of the German special forces who lost her son's father during an operation gone wrong. Suffering from post-traumatic stress, she and her son go to the American consulate in Frankfurt to obtain a visa. When the boy disappears, Sara has no intention of leaving the premises without finding him. The problem is, for the agents on site, the young woman came alone.
What is the reality? Has her son really been kidnapped? Sara will escape their surveillance and infiltrate the building, convinced that something is being hidden from her.
Netflix know-how
It's not easy to keep 110 minutes of filming behind closed doors, and yet, we have to give credit to director and screenwriter Christian Zübert for managing to keep his boat going until the end. The pace of the plot and the energy expended by the lead actress Jeanne Goursaud (Pax Massilia, Barbarians, also on Netflix) carry us quite easily to the end of the story. The feature film manages to balance its action sequences with its narrative twists so that each one revives our interest when the other falters, in turn.
So let's not get carried away, and nothing on offer here is particularly remarkable. We feel like we're in a home production designed to keep us on the edge of our seats and fill the suggestion box at the end of another catalog film. Classic-classic, in short. But it's decent enough to entertain us for an evening.
Especially since we appreciate the few original ideas. Setting the action solely within an American consulate is something quite innovative, and our characters offer us a nice tour of the place. We feel that the director wants to make things credible by firstly outlining the strengths and weaknesses of his heroine in a few minutes, before confronting them with "real situations. Thus, the fights take care to play on physical differences, and everyone's reactions obey a certain logic.
And when Exterritorial slips too far into its inconsistencies, the scenario manages to land on its feet by playing on the psyche of its protagonist. So that everything that seems too improbable to be true could ultimately find a Fincheresque explanation if we decide to let ourselves be caught up in the game.
Knowing how to put your brain aside Netflix
Yes, you know it, it's there, the famous Netflix "Watchable then forgettable" category which consists of no longer remembering the film a few hours after watching it. This is not a surprise as the platform openly produces projects that we must be able to watch with one eye while doing something else. Suffice to say that Exterritorial falls right into this category due to its inability to make its realism credible.
Because if the feature film does indeed sometimes appear clever when viewed with one eye, you only need to look at it with both eyes to see a shower of details that no longer fit at all with the whole. The explanations given for the consulate's relatively lax security are far-fetched, the rushed conclusion drags on endlessly and gives us a sense of all this for the sake of it, and the character of Irina (Lera Abova) is a superficial and sacrificial tool.
The direction is decent, but not original. The action scenes are nice, not generous. The twists carry the film while constantly demanding our willing suspension of disbelief—a shame for a production striving for realism. Jeanne Goursaud gives her all, physically and emotionally, facing partners who are too subpar. In short, Exterritorial is a film that relies too much on "good, but no more," thinking that having an average score is enough to move up a class.
Yes, Exterritorial entertains, but in a general chaos that doesn't allow for rewatching, otherwise you'll only see its big plot twists. The project had a good foundation, and in better hands and with greater ambition, it could have been a breathtaking action thriller. No, we'll have to be content with spending some quality time in front of it after we've put our minds to rest. A Netflix Top 10 that's only Top 10 in terms of its ranking, undoubtedly short-lived when it comes to taking stock at the end of the year, or even at the end of the month. It doesn't matter, since it accomplishes its own goal. It doesn't take much to be happy, after all, whether behind the project or in front of the screen.
0 Comments