The Family

The Family, the latest film by acclaimed director Luc Besson is a wildly entertaining film about witness relocation. Not necessarily a subject known for it's humor, Luc takes a pretty good stab at it and with the thanks of a cast full of Oscar award winners and nominees. The Family comes together like no other mob film before, and for that I give The Family four buckets of Killer Korn.












Luc Besson is best known for his work on films like The Professional, La Femme Nikita, and The Fifth Element, though my favorite film by him was a little known film entitled Angel-A. With Angel-A I saw that Luc Besson had the talent not just to thrill, but to charm and with The Family, Luc does both. Starring Robert De Niro as Fred Blake aka Giovanni Manzoni, Michelle Pfeiffer as his wife Maggie Blake, Dianna Agron as Belle Blake, and John D'Leo as Warren Blake, they are a family on the run from the mafia boss he put behind bars by testifying against him. Tommy Lee Jones is hilarious as Robert Stansfield, the man tasked with keep the family alive.

Now with De Niro, Pfeiffer, and Jones you would think they would make this film something special, and normally you'd be right. This time around though, you'd be dead wrong. Don't get me wrong, those three heavyweights are good, but the real stars of this film are the kids. Dianna Agron and John D'Leo steal this film from the big three every time they are on the screen. You have a pretty good idea what you're going to get when the big three are on the screen, but you have no idea what's coming when Belle and Warren are front and center and that's what makes The Family so damn enjoyable. The best thing about this movie also is that it doesn't take itself too seriously. It's almost like a spoof of the mob films made by Coppola and Scorcese, who is also the executive producer on the film by the way.

There are a lot of faces you will recognize in The Family, mainly because they play the stereotypes so well and have been in countless mob movies over the years. The best one of the lot is the un-remorseful hit man Rocco played by Jon Freda. He's hilarious as he is deadly and his introduction scene is shot masterfully by Luc Besson's longtime cinematographer Thierry Arbogast. The Family has a familiar feel to it if you are a fan of Besson's work, it's a style that has been missing over the years. Scored playfully by Evgueni and Sacha Galperine, the music set the perfect tone for the films moods. Mischievous, somber, playful, or deadly the music is always right on. I highly recommend The Family if you're looking for something to make you laugh and I'll see you at the theater.




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