A rough and sometimes sordid movie is a short way to summarize this film. It's about a no-nonsense gang of drugged-out French thieves whose bank robbery attempt backfires into a bloody mess.

For those who object, be warned there are a fair amount of subtitles in here and a lot of f-words. This was a tough gang, and the lead characters are pretty grubby, they aren't really very likable people.

I like Jean-Hughes Anglade's accent and I always like ogling Julie Delpy, although I've seen her look better. The city of Paris looked good with some nice shots in the beginning and at the end of the movie.

Anglade, as the leader of the gang, was brutal but fascinating. My only complaint was the film was too sordid in spots (drugs, language and attitude). but overall, an entertaining crime film. It gets your attention and keeps it.

This film may have a really low budget, but it more than makes up for this in terms of manic energy. What we have here is essentially a heist movie in the DOG DAY AFTERNOON mould. Quentin Tarantino acts as executive producer and his influence obviously comes through in Roger Avary's style - it's a film packed with manic characters, lots of intense bits, graphic violence, and irrelevant dialogue.

The film's overall impression is lowered by the boring first half, where nothing much really happens. There's a lot of character-building, too much in fact, and the lack of budget really shows here. In some ways it feels like an art-house movie and far too much time is spent on drug-induced nightmares like when Stoltz finds himself vomiting in a bathroom where two homosexuals go about their business nearby. It's very unpleasant and not very enjoyable to watch. In the film's sex scene, near the beginning, we see two lovers combined with clips from NOSFERATU playing on a nearby television - I'm not sure what message they were trying to put across here, but it's extremely surreal.

Things really kick up a gear when our characters (eventually) arrive at the bank and almost immediately their plan starts to go awry and they start massacring the hostages and employees of the bank. Soon enough the police find out and retaliate with events culminating in a final, bloody shootout with bullets and bodies flying everywhere - this is where the film really comes into its own, a violent showdown done in a commendably old-fashioned style. The acting is fine, with Eric Stoltz cast against type as the softly-spoken leading man, a character whom we can emphasise with (his shooting of the blown-up guard is suitably powerful). Julie Delpy provides some glamour as his love interest who gets caught up in all the shooting, while Jean-Hugues Anglade is excellent as the psychopathic ringleader who loses it big time at the end. The final showdown between Stoltz and Anglade is excellent, seemingly lasting forever and totally riveting. Anglade's inevitable death really fits the bill of his crimes in this case, as he gets shot in slow-motion about a zillion times.

KILLING ZOE may not be an original or particularly brilliant film, but fans of heist thrillers won't go wrong here and it has an independent, offbeat slant to it to make it commendable viewing.

Zed (Eric Stoltz) arrives in Paris, goes to a hotel room and has sex with call-girl Zoe (Julie Delpy). His lowlife friend Eric (Jean-Hugues Anglade) pulls Zoe out of the shower and throws her out of the room naked. Eric is the leader and Zed is the safecracker. Their group goes to rob a bank where Zoe happens to be a worker. Zed is shocked that people are getting killed right from the start and the job goes wrong.

Coming out at around the same time, this was overshadowed by Pulp Fiction. It certainly isn't as well-written or well-constructed. Zed is a slacker-type and isn't a compelling lead character. His druggie self is low-energy and isn't that interesting. The first act with Julie Delpy is memorable but the middle is completely forgettable. The bank robbery regains some interest.