Alicia I love this movie so much

Boobirt Stylish but barely mediocre overall

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Paynbob It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

JoeytheBrit This is pretty ordinary stuff for those not devoted to brainless action flicks; a kind of fusion of the ideas behind Assault on Precinct 13 (which was itself a remake of Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo) and the Living Dead pictures, this French spin on the Hollywood action genre takes too long to set up its siege scenario and populates itself with colourless characters with whom the viewer has no chance of identifying, but has enough enthusiasm and zip to lift it above the more cynical efforts produced by Hollywood these days..The action mostly takes place in a warehouse to which an under siege armoured vehicle carrying a Mafia chieftain to trial retreats when it is ambushed by what seems like the entire Albanian chapter of the organisation. As luck would have it, a bunch of crooks are in the middle of stealing a couple of container's worth of laptops when the police arrive, and an uneasy alliance is formed between them as they attempt to prevent the gangsters gaining entry.Now if I was one of those highly-trained strategic swatty-types with a security guard who knew how to operate a gantry crane at my disposal the first thing I would have done is place a couple of fully-loaded containers in front of each entranceway and sat it out in relative safety. So would you, I imagine. Granted, it wouldn't make much of a movie, but at least you'd have been safe. But of course this is action movie land – 'pure' action, apparently, which as far as I can gather means that there is virtually no attempt made to give any of the characters any, well… character, and everyone races around firing indiscriminately like a testosterone-charged stag party on a paintball weekend.It takes nearly forty-five minutes for all the strands to be pulled together into anything approaching a coherent storyline – up until then only the scriptwriter knows what is going on – but once the real action starts, in the form of enthusiastic gunplay, the film does at least begin to entertain in that mindless sense that draws us to these kind of flicks in the first place. There's nothing very original about any of it – although I liked the way the advancing mafia army in their night vision outfits resembled alien invaders, and the prominent and strong roles given to the two women – and the plot doesn't stand up under even passing scrutiny, but it's all pulled off with a certain Gallic style by director Florent Emilio Siri, who has since gone on to direct action heavyweight Bruce Willis in The Hostage, and the film is also free of any misplaced sentimentality as it winds its way towards an entirely predictable climax.

soxlade For some people the words 'French' and 'Action Movie' will do nothing but produce guffaws. Pay no attention; they know nothing about the lengthy history of superb French Action Films. The French actually produce some good movies from time to time. They are not all pretentious 'Arthouse' flicks which involve lots of shagging and boring dialogue. Jean-Pierre Jeunet gave us Delicatessen and 'The City of Lost Children' - he then made 'Alien:Resurrection' but we forgave him when he delivered 'Amelie'. Then there is Luc Besson who gave us 'Subway', 'Nikita' as a warm up then the fabulous 'Leon' ('The Professional' in the US) and the superb 'Fifth Element'. If you check the production companies involved on those last two you will find that they are entirely French, only US distributors were involved. Besson has sort-of disappeared from movie making for a while, concentrating on producing and writing cheapo European action films like 'The Transporter' and 'Taxi' 1&2 (not the lame US remakes). The reason for this lengthy preamble is to point out that not all French films are dull, and illustrate the fact that actually the French have a lot to teach a jaded Hollywood in how to make action movies. Which brings me to 'The Nest'. I watched John Carpenter's fantastic 'Assault on Precinct 13' when I was probably 15 and bored one evening. I didn't know anything about Carpenter, the film had no recognizable stars and I had no idea what was going to happen. Needless to say the film is excellent. It was the first time in my cinema going life that I felt not just wonder when watching a film, but also claustrophobia, oppression and genuine fear. 'The Nest' is a total remake of 'Assault'. It doesn't hang about (though its setup is maybe a little longer and a smidge wider-ranging than Assault's), introducing three groups of characters so quickly that you genuinely have no idea what they are up to. Sami Naceri, the star of the hugely daft Taxi films, is best known as a comic actor, yet plays successfully against type here (why isn't he a star on the same level as Jean Reno by now?)Pascal Greggory has the looks and presence of a hit-man, but is actually a security guard, Nadia Fares looks like a catwalk model, but utterly convinces as the military enforcer. The lesser characters (which isn't really fair as this is a purely ensemble piece of work) all inhabit their characters completely, their complex relationships spark off believable dialogue that never once slips into cliché. It is this commitment to reality that underlines 'The Nest' and makes it so successful. Almost the entire film takes place in a single warehouse, which is similar to 'Assault' except that Carpenter's film had a number of locations within the police house. The Nest has three areas - a Boiler room, a security desk that has a clear view over the entire warehouse, and the warehouse itself. Although this lessens the claustrophobia somewhat, it is hugely successful in putting all of our characters in peril at once. Another twist is that in 'Assault' the characters can retreat through to another room of the building. Early on in 'The Nest' it becomes clear that their only area of retreat has already been compromised by the enemy. The warehouse almost becomes a character itself, as the film becomes more and more desperate, the lights are removed and the shadows glower and threaten. Only bullet holes let in any more light, leaving shafts of light to taunt the stars with the hope they may get out of this alive. This realism (which isn't entirely there in the plot TBH), extends to wounds. A character is shot in the thigh early on in the film and spends the rest of the film limping painfully about. Other characters are injured throughout the events and stay injured, they don't suddenly find the ability to fire guns after being shot in the shoulder. This is gritty film-making and helps make 'The Nest' so successful. It feels real, you don't know what characters are going to make it or not. This leads to genuine tension. We may have seen the story before (wounded character stays behind to protect his friends; scared character finds the inner strength to confront the enemies head on), but its presentation here feels exciting and, if not exactly fresh, new. Another major lesson that Hollywood should learn from this film is the way it looks. There are some magic shots in here - a standout is an exact remake of Charlie Sheen's airlift from the Jungle in Platoon (!) - which not only looks great, and is genuinely unusual, but also adds greatly to our understanding of the character involved. 'The Nest' is not original, it is also not high art. It is an extremely solid action picture that is unusually exciting and tense. The director, Florent-Emilio Siri, conjures up desperation, hopelessness and genuine evil from his group of talented character actors as well as successfully re-creating Carpenter's feeling of an unstoppable army out to get them. The idea that the villains are insectile and swarming around outside highlighted by the low-light headgear they all wear is interesting and well illustrated. Siri got the gig directing Bruce Willis in 'Hostage', which is interesting as I would genuinely rate 'The Nest' alongside Willis' 'Die Hard' as examples of how to do an action movie well. It really is that good.

BroadswordCallinDannyBoy A fairly unoriginal movie, but terrifically entertaining for action fans. Others steer clear.The story kicks off with three groups meeting in the same tight spot: a huge warehouse. One group is a band of crooks. Second we have a group of commandos who where transporting a wanted terrorist and they just took a beating from his henchmen, who are the third group and they are relentlessly trying to get their boss back. The crooks team up with the commandos to save their hides from the terrorists. Hong Kong style action and fireworks ensue.In a nice step the action and violence grows increasingly over the top. Starting with typical action film shoot-out and finally barreling towards utter chaos and inhumanity and, in the end, the bad guys are portrayed almost as gun totting demons rather than humans. They are vile, robotic, and bestial. Especially the terrorist leader who has some nasty fingernails. That is pretty ridiculous, but from an action movie point of view it is quite stylish and even refreshing for a change. Also it makes a statement about the sense of all the violence. 7/10Rated R: plenty of violence, and profanity (in French, nonetheless)

bienetre Just finished watching Nid de Guepes, or the Nest, as it is translated. The beginning I found to be somewhat slow - there is very little dialogue until the sh@t starts to fly in the building. However, I found myself drawn to whether or not and more importantly who would make it out alive. Overall, for an action movie, it was good - no hero machismo, no action stars . The one and only rescue attempt made (in the truck) is put to rest within a matter of seconds in a hail of bullets; something you don't see quite often in a typical Hollywood blockbuster.There are no heroes, no guns for glory. It simply tells the story of a group of people, thrown into the same "merde", fighting to survive. Whatever remains of the bravado is quickly put to an end as you see how high the odds were stacked against them - the continuous legion of gunmen assaulting the factory in droves. Not to mention Fares, switching from French, to Italian to English without missing a beat. Rrrroow.A good flick