Writer & director Laurent Tuel's "Le premier cercle" qualifies as a gritty, hard-boiled heist thriller about a pugnacious clan of Armenian mobsters in France. Jean Reno stars as the ruthless father and crime boss Milo Malakian. He remains unscathed throughout this well-staged dramatic shoot'em up. Nevertheless, his life of crime exacts a tragic toll on his family. Gaspard Ulliel plays Milo's handsome son Anton Malakian who isn't sure that a criminal career is best for him. He wants to invest in a small motel and raise horses. Anton falls in love with the pretty young nurse, Elodie (Vahina Giocante) who takes care of his grandmother. Interestingly enough, Reno's tough guy protagonist never sees the inside of a jail cell. When Reno and his larcenous family aren't trying to kill French police inspector L'inspecteur Saunier, they are feuding with each other over the girl that the son wants to wed. Moreover, the son follows reluctantly in the father's footsteps. The stolen car scene at the gas station at the outset of the action is neatly down. Reno's character has no qualms about openly attacking the police. In one scene, he recognizes a cop in a car near a dock and rams the car with the cop. The airport heist set-piece in the last half-hour and the son's struggle to go straight are electrifying. "Le premier cercle" is believable from fade-in to fade-out, and Tuel's 95-minute movie never wears out its welcome.

I'm a Jean Reno fan but he's only one of the great things about this movie. I will agree that the beginning is a little rough. You have to think about what's going on and let it go keep its own pace for awhile. But for all its lack of grace in the beginning, nothing fatal goes on and it easily makes up for it in Acts II and III.

This film is one of the most economical I've ever seen. There's hardly a wasted scene and the characters are all quite believable. Next to Jean Reno as Milo, the next most important role is played by Gaspard Ulliel as his son, Anton. The young man who plays Reno's son is quite capable and is a good match with Reno.

The story is a simple one: young man wants to leave the crime family he belongs to and go straight. I would say there's little new in the story but that's not quite right, on reflection there's a lot of very important detail that really makes the story come alive. I really admire this film's ability to elicit real crime techniques and ambiance, all while giving the audience an unforgettable travelogue of what I think was southern France. Suffice it to say, I intend to seek out this director's work from now on. His name is Laurent Tuel and I believe the man deserves quite a lot of credit.

The movie centers around the Malakian crime family, an Armenian heritage family living in France. Anton is the son of the crime boss. He wants out, but doesn't want to offend his family so he stays in because he is now French and sits on a fence post. The cops are after the family, but are too ineffective to make a case against them. The movie starts out with a clever car theft, but then quickly digresses in a series of boring scenes. You don't get to feel for any of the characters, and you are confused as to which side to root for. You just wish somebody would do something. The family plans a final ultimate heist which will succeed if the French cops are too stupid to use their radio to stop their get away.

The music at times was more fit for a B horror movie. Brief nudity, sex, and a little violence. Keep the fast forward on the remote handy.