REVIEW: ‘AKA’ Is A Violent & Gritty French Action Film

AKA (2023), a French action film, is written by Alban Lenoir and Morgan S. Dalibert, with the latter also directing the film. The cast within the film includes the film’s writer Alban Lenoir, footballer Eric Cantona, Noé Chabbat, and Sveva Alviti.

The French film follows Alban’s character Adam Franco, a special ops agent with over 20 years of experience. With a series of terror attacks hitting France, Adam’s next mission is to work undercover and gain intel on a deadly and ruthless crime boss, Victor Pastore. After Adam gains the trust of Victor, he develops a close bond/friendship with Victor’s young son, Jonathon. And therefore, he finds himself questioning his role as an undercover agent.

While that may sound just the tiniest bit heartwarming, the film starts as anything but. AKA starts with Adam deep in a mission, with a brutal and gory start that features ruthless stabbing and shocking executions. From there onwards, you can pretty much expect there to be death, blood, and plenty of gunfire throughout. Although, as the film has just begun and we don’t know any of the characters that have been killed, the manner of their deaths makes the scene all the more shocking. Which gives just a small hint of what to expect from the film.

In AKA, it isn’t so clear, at first, who the good or bad guys are. This is never more apparent than when a hostage is brutally shot dead by their apparent rescuer in the opening sequence. This also occurs in the writing of the leading man, Adam. You’d likely assume he would be the ‘hero.’ Instead, as we soon witness, Adam is a ruthless and deadly individual, willing to go to any lengths required. Even if you disagree with his actions, it makes for an interesting and questionable journey as his story progresses.

While AKA has an initial thrilling start, it quickly slows down and, for a while, becomes quite boring.

While AKA has an initial thrilling start, it quickly slows down and, for a while, becomes quite boring. Luckily for the viewers, the story switches up and becomes more action-packed. And with more action comes more death. Due to the violent nature of the show, no one is safe. It results in a very exciting watch, and you will constantly wonder whether your favorite character(s) will make it out alive.

With that in mind, AKA is not a ‘fun’ movie. It’s dark, gritty, and serious. With intense exchanges between characters all the way through, the action becomes more violent as we near the end of the film. Yes, there are many scenes of violence and blood throughout AKA. However, it fits with the serious tone of the film. And while there may be murders, car chases, and numerous shootouts, a key part of the film comes from Adam’s friendship with Jonathon. Although this film’s relationship is crucial to the story, AKA would have benefitted had we seen more of Adam and Jonathon together. Had that occurred, the payoff would have felt much more worthy.

Although the running time is just over 2 hours (quite frankly, a length that may turn some viewers off), AKA is a decent enough watch. Overall, AKA has plenty of action. And if you’re not afraid of seeing lots of violence, this could be an exciting watch for you.

AKA (2023) is available to stream exclusively on Netflix.