The Front Line

2006
6.5| 1h33m| en| More Info
Released: 16 July 2006 Released
Producted By: Wide Eye Films
Country:
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.thefrontlinemovie.com
Synopsis

An African immigrant bank security guard turns the tables on Dublin's nastiest criminals when they force him to be the "inside man" on a bank robbery.

... View More
Stream Online

The movie is currently not available onine

Director

Producted By

Wide Eye Films

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

All Prime Video Movies and TV Shows. Cancel anytime. Watch Now

Trailers & Images

Reviews

Perry Kate Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
SunnyHello Nice effects though.
Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!
GarnettTeenage The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.
lastliberal James Frain (Sunshine, Reindeer Games) plays what is probably the most vicious criminal around. He forces Eriq Ebouaney (Hitman, Crimson Rivers 2: Angels of the Apocalypse), a bank security guard, to assist him in a robbery or his family will suffer. The cops are on him almost immediately, but he can't talk.They take his wife (Fatou N'Diaye) and son as hostages, and he lets them into the bank, but they were not prepared for his next step.His past was not something they were prepared to deal with, and he used it to bring his full fury down on them and save his boy. He is assisted by some countrymen who also know what to do with a knitting needle and Viagra.His boy safe, the ghost of Father Joseph will exact retribution once again.
dfgrayb What starts off looking like a routine action thriller about a bank heist gradually becomes something much more. Eriq Ebouaney is a security guard at a bank, whose family is kidnapped to force him to assist in the robbery.The film is in many respects a revisiting of the John Wayne/John Ford classic The Searchers, in that the viewer gradually realizes that the ostensible plot (the bank robbery) is not really at the center of the film. Just as in The Searchers, where the film is really about Wayne's search to find his own humanity and not his niece who has been captured by the Comanches, so too in The Front Line, Ebouaney's pursuit to rescue his family is his search to find his own redemption as a human being. Over the course of the film, because of the fine performances and direction, we are drawn into Ebouaney's internal pain and love, and we almost want to say to him "Be at peace. Your soul is good." This is a remarkable and moving film. Successful on many levels. Ebouaney's performance is stunning. The plot, which begins as a bank robbery, becomes a story that is breathtakingly beautiful, powerful, and unforgettable.
joegreene32 This isn't a bad attempt at an Irish crime movie. While James Frain hams it up as a baddie, Eric Ebouaney is very watchable as an asylum seeker looking to settle in the city. He is man with a secret just trying to get by and escape his past in the Congo. His wife and son arrive to be with him, but all is not what it seems. Taking a job as a security guard at a bank, he is soon in the thick of it, the victim of a from the headlines tiger kidnapping. When things go awry as they invariably do in this genre piece, there is hell to pay. Getting into bed with a gang of African racketeers – a first in an Irish film – the film subtly examines the plight of a refugee in an alien country, albeit against a heightened backdrop. The performances from Ebouaney and Hakeem Kae Kazim are good, though the Irish characters, particularly the police, are a little stiff. Camera-work is good and the soundtrack contemporary. The twist at the end is okay. Certainly an improvement on the director's first outing Cowboys and Angels. Warning: Brendan Gleeson is not in this film.
greenbuff The Front Line marks a major watershed in Irish cinema. Addressing issues of immigration and the horrors of genocide in Africa in a contemporary thriller which plays out on the streets of Dublin, David Gleeson has raised the bar considerably for an Irish film. The director's previous film, Cowboys and Angels, which he also wrote, stands as one of the best Irish films of the last decade. Deceptively simple and light in tone Gleeson addressed similar issues of alienation and broke new ground even then by moving away from the ponderous and the frankly dour image which Irish films hitherto presented of Ireland.Although a very different film and working with a much larger budget, The Front Line is a more rewarding cinematic experience. Graced with a hypnotic central performance from Eriq Ebouaney the film grips from the opening set up in the Garda Immigration bureau.Supporting cast are exceptional with outstanding turns from Fatou N'Diaye as Kala and Hakeem Kae Kazim as the sinister and hugely charismatic Erasmus. James Frain turns in a chilling performance as the scariest bad guy ever to roam the streets of Dublin. Patrick Cassidy's music also deserves particular praise.I can't think of any other film with which to compare this. Perhaps Dirty Pretty Things comes closest but for emotional impact this is a far richer experience.