Pretty dreadful franchisy sequel. Apart from Dahan's (French) meditative camera-work inbetween stock action filming there's absolutely nothing original about this film at all. To name all the contrivances and their lineage would be as boring as the film itself: suffice to say that if you've seen Bond, Indiana Jones and The.., Seven and even The Matrix you've probably covered most of this.

Of the cast, Magimel has the 'cute' of Cassel (from the first) but not his charisma. Reno is the one holding it together, although his ennui is rather more phoned-in for this one. And simply putting Christopher Lee in a film - doing his sect-leader yet again - does not rubber-stamp it with integrity (he's left out to dry almost as much as the redundant chick-interest, Natta).

I did, however, enjoy an unwittingly (?) postmodern thrill-sequence set in the supermarket. If only there were more of this invention 3/10