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Elyas

Elyas Flores is a French army veteran, back from a spell in Afghanistan, which has mentally shafted him (we find out later what exactly happened). He's staying in a kind of monitored apartment block but does a runner when his care worker upbraids him for not taking his medicine. A job offer appears at just the right time.

His north African background is a plus in that he's asked to be a bodyguard for a middle eastern millionaire and his family. It doesn't take long for suspicions to arise, or are these all due to Elyas's paranoia? This is clearly the best section of the film. He sees the other security guys handling earrings that went missing earlier. The young child of the family rides her bike out of the mansion grounds and Elyas spots a pair of wronguns on a motorbike. He watches things on the house monitors that don't look legit to him.

But we're soon doubting the veracity of events, even though we've seen them play out. We've become the 'unreliable narrator' in the story. If the film had continued in this way, it really could have been something great, or at least original. Sadly, it reverts to formula soon after this fine first act.

We've all seen those films that feature the age old trope of a grizzled hard-man looking after a young kid in danger (Man on Fire, Logan, Commando, Leon, Taxi Driver, You Were Never Really Here, etc). They can be excellent thrillers, as those above mostly are, but they can also feel stale, and here's where Elyas lets itself down by not following through with its theme.

The second two acts, and especially the final one, lean into a frankly ludicrous revenge tale, where the villains are quietly bricking it at the thought of facing this 'one man army'. The made for TV feel completely undoes the great work of setting up the character early doors.

The cast are quite solid, especially Jeanne Michel as Nour, the child in danger. Her mother, Amina (Laëtitia Eïdo) overcomes her 2D character sketching, and it's good to see a lead like Roschdy Zem. He's no oil painting but he's riddled with character.

All in all, a promising start, undone by poor writing choices, makes Elyas a minor entry in the sub-genre. It's showing at the Alliance Francaise French Film Festival around Australia, in Perth at the Palace and Luna cinemas.

See also:

Of the similar films listed above I reckon it's taken most of the DNA from Man on Fire, and I'll have to suggest Tony Scott's 2004 version, as I haven't seen the 1987 original. For more Roschdy Zem, have a gander at Louis Garrel's fantastic The Innocent (2022).

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