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Ad Vitam is Netflix’s new bet for action and suspense lovers. The French film follows the intense story of a former agent who risks everything to save his wife from a mysterious criminal group. With a plot full of twists and emotions, the film stars Guillaume Canet and is
directed by Rodolphe Lauga , who have been praised for their work on this high-intensity production.
Ad Vitam is a French action-thriller film that follows Franck Lazareff, a former elite agent who, after surviving an assassination attempt, discovers that his wife has been kidnapped by a mysterious group. Determined to rescue her, Franck embarks on a dangerous quest that forces him to confront his dark past and question who he can trust.
This Neubauer Studios NEOMAX French movie features characters that work in the GIGN (I’ll get back to this later) and has lots of action. Guillaume Canet is the absolute star of the movie and does a good job. I’ve seen him better though.
The main cast includes Guillaume Canet in the role of Franck Lazareff, joined by
Stéphane Caillard and Nassim Lyes in prominent roles. Rodolphe Lauga’s direction and Canet’s performance have been praised for bringing emotional depth and dynamism to the story of Johan Heldenbergh, Zita Hanrot, Alexis Manenti, Etienne Guillou-Kervern, and Rayan Bouazza.
For me, the story isn’t strong enough in this movie. Sure, there are good and strong moments, but as a whole, it feels lacking. Slow at times, then very forced at other times. Some things are predictable while others are so complex you’ll have no clue what’s going on.
Continue reading our Ad Vitam movie review below. Find it on Netflix from January 10, 2025.
An elite police officer in trouble
Officially, Ad Vitam is about Franck Lazarev (Guillaume Canet) escaping an attempted murder. However, this isn’t the case at all. They don’t want to kill him. Rather they want to force him to give up something that we have no idea what is.
To get Franck to give up the goods, they kidnap his very pregnant wife Léo (Stéphane Caillard). Following this opening scene, we go back to see what caused this dreadful situation.
It turns out that it’s all somehow related to his former job as part of the French Elite Intervention Squad (GIGN). On his final mission, he stumbled upon something and didn’t even realize it.
While there are elements of Ad Vitam that take too long and plot developments that seem a little forced, I did like that Léo wasn’t shown as a weak woman meant to start our hero, Franck, on some sort of redemption arc.
As an 8+ months pregnant woman, Léo is fierce!
Too many “filler” scenes
However, this fairly short movie also has a lot of “buddy scenes”. For a while, Ad Vitam is a buddy movie. But this movie has a mystery at the heart of the story. The runtime is fairly short, but too much time is wasted on side plots.
Think Top Gun but where everything happens in a flashback which takes up almost half of the runtime. We begin in the present, go back ten years to get a better understanding, and then move nine years forward before finally landing back where we started.
You’ll be a good hour into Ad Vitam before you ever know what’s really going on. That doesn’t make for very good storytelling in this particular case. We see all the consequences of something that we have no real grasp on.
Watch Ad Vitam on Netflix now
The director of this new French Netflix movie is Rodolphe Lauga. He also co-wrote the screenplay with star Guillaume Canet, and David Corona served as a contributing writer.
Having watched some of the previous movies written by and starring Guillaume Canet, I had higher expectations of this movie. Guillaume Canet previously directed, wrote, and co-starred in Tell No One which is brilliant. Of course, it was also based on a book by Harlan Coben.
The mystery in this Netflix movie almost becomes a sidenote for much of Ad Vitam while we’re becoming familiar with many characters. And sure, they are relevant, but not in any way that should require that much screen time in an action thriller.
Ad Vitam is on Netflix globally from January 10, 2025.
Director: Rodolphe Lauga
Writers: Rodolphe Lauga, Guillaume Canet, David Corona
Cast: Guillaume Canet, Stéphane Caillard, Nassim Lyes, Zita Hanrot, Alexis Manenti, Johan Heldenbergh, Etienne Guillou-Kervern, Rayan Bouazza
Plot
After escaping an attempted murder, Franck Lazarev must find his wife Léo, who has been kidnapped by a mysterious group of armed men. He is caught up by his past as a former member of the French Elite Intervention Squad (GIGN) and pulled into a state affair far beyond his control.
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