CASH reviewed

Cash seems to have been openly designed for the American market, presumably the producers expecting to cash from the larger than life figure of Jean Reno's, whom I first met in the silver screen in Léon, together with a delightful Natalie Portman, still a child then.

Cash, directed by Éric Besnard, which could well have been called Twister, as the twists piled upon twists upon... well, you get the picture, I hope, left my head and my limbs entwined so tightly that I somehow managed to get sense of myself, and the film, as there are several strands in the storytelling which, I gather, have been designed to throw us, the audience, out from our tracks. I reckon this will be the allure for many, apart of the rather corpulent figure of Jean Reno filling the screen every time he appears, his figure giving even a heavier impression by the choice of suits he wears.

There is a scam that went wrong at the beginning, leaving the perpetrator dead, leading to the subsequent revengeful actions by a rather gallant and skilful scoundrel, Cash (Jean Dujardin), which is partly a plan to entrap a corrupt police officer, Julia Molina (Valeria Golino), and partly a plan to not too gently relieve a rich Southafrican of his substantial cargo of diamonds, which is were Maxime (Jean Reno), a mastermind that several European police forces would like to get their hands onto, gets into the action. The beauty of this plan is that, as the stones are unregistered, therefore non existent in the eyes of the law, no crime will be committed.

The plan to get the diamonds is actually highly implausible, relying on too many coincidences to make any sense at all, but still quite fun to watch as it develops, all set in an environment that the poor of the earth, like myself, do not usually get to see, such as a luxury barge in the Seine, a five star hotel in the South of France, and a mansion which Maxime uses to lure punters (or pigeons, as I learned a new meaning of the word designating that most misunderstood of all birds), which could be rented for the day.

The pace of the film is fast, resulting in the fact that I was all the time wondering where I was. The actors are agreeable, although is very unlikely they will get any prizes for their performances, and Reno gets to cash his cheque for basically filling the silver screen with his presence and little else. However, he is good at that, so I am not complaining.

Cash is released today 6^th February 2012 in DVD & Blu Ray formats in Britain by Metrodome Distribution.

Running Time: 100 Minutes DVD RRP: £15.99 / Cert: TBC