A young pickpocket and an unruly CIA agent team up on an anti-terrorist mission in France. Michael Mason, a pickpocket living in Paris, steals a bag with a teddy bear in it. Not realizing the toy contains a timed bomb, he tosses it aside on a busy street. A few seconds later it explodes, killing four people. CCTV footage reveals Mason's face and the French police tag him as a terrorist threat. The explosion, although botched, was set up by a select group of the French Interior Ministry as a decoy so they can make a half billion dollar digital transfer from a bank (closed on French National Day) – hence the title Bastille Day. In a separate CIA investigation the unruly agent Sean Briar discovers the real story behind Mason's "terrorist attack". The two men, on different sides of the law, collaborate to bring the corrupt members of the Ministry down. You have to forget that, during the making of this action film shot in Paris, the French capital was the scene of a brutal terrorist attack. Instead you have to go with the flow - and, boy, does it flow with constant flights and fights and a frenetically-cut chase sequence on rooftops that could have come straight out of a Bourne movie. <br/><br/>British director James Watkins has given us a thoroughly entertaining romp that never lets up and looks great. The plotting is utterly implausible but the hard-as-diamond core is the former CIA agent Briar played wonderfully by Britain's Idris Elba in a role that could be seen as an audition to be the next James Bond. Not at all sure about his 'singing' over the credits though … Well, Idris Elba is not by far Lee Marvin (maybe because his star sign is Virgo and Marvin was Pisces…) (James Watkins said in an interview that Marvin was as a benchmark for Elba) but, is convincing and presentable. I've seen a bit of Mr. Elba in Prometheus, but now I've seen everything very well, he really fills the screen. It is good that in a real world of increasingly crazy people, artists like James Watkins (Director) and Andrew Baldwin (Writer) creates, not with too much money, a new action movie, a very good thriller, with a lot of adrenaline. Very good actors, cool music, nervous montage, captivating image(especially the chase up on the roofs). We see Paris too, for free, which is not bad either. Now, nothing left to do than to wait for the sequel, I hope to be even more explosive. 9 out of 10. It’s Watkins’ lean, keen instinct for choreographing and cutting action set pieces that keeps Bastille Day afloat.
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