The French crime drama Squad 36 on Netflix starts on a high. A group of cops are involved in an adrenaline-driven chase to corner a high-profile criminal, Karim Mahmoudi (Jean-Michel Correia), amidst pouring rain. The ensuing drama promises a chilling thriller with plenty of action and a realistic portrayal of the law enforcement system, with its fair share of corruption. However, just like the rain, the film descends… into a predictable narrative, extinguishing the initial outpouring of promise.
Director: Olivier Marchal
Cast: Victor Belmondo, Juliette Dol, Tewfik Jallab, Soufiane Guerrab, Guillaume Pottier, Yousef Ramal and Jean-Michel Correia
Genre: Crime thriller
Streamer: Netflix
Language: French
Director Olivier Marchal, known for his gritty films on similar themes, presents a troubled protagonist, Antoine Cerda (Victor Belmondo), who deviates from standard police procedure to investigate his colleagues' murders. Every character in Squad 36 has inner turmoils, but director Marchal maintains a detached perspective, leaving the audience unable to forge emotional connections with Antoine, Richard (Soufiane Guerrab), Hanna (Juliette Dol), or Sami (Tewfik Jallab). We know Antoine grapples with unspeakable mental horrors, but the audience never experiences what he truly feels. Instead, he goes around the city, his perfectly maintained hair contrasting with his weary eyes, pursuing a series of fruitless leads.
Even as he drags his feet along every interrogation that sparks no interest or leads nowhere, there is realism rooted in it as he begins investigating from scratch. At least, you would expect a payoff in the end, but it is devoid of all the flavour and joys of decoding the mystery surrounding Richard's disappearance. As the plot progresses, it only leads to more frustrations as a clumsy screenplay clouds the story from delivering what it aimed to do. Except for Antoine, the characters are reduced to one-dimensional stereotypes, failing to offer any real surprise when the story takes an unexpected turn with a providential twist. The underdeveloped plot seems to have limited the actors' ability to deliver compelling performances.
The film has potentially provocative ideas, as evident in some of its lines. For example, Antoine's officers often provide pearls of wisdom like, "Heroes don't always die on the field of battle", and Antoine tells Hanna not to believe what she sees on television, suggesting that crimes by officers and inside precincts are whitewashed before they get to the media—an insight that warrants a second thought on media coverage. However, the film fails to develop them into an impactful narrative that explores the darker aspects of law enforcement, thus leaving its promise as battered as Antoine in his Fight Club-like flights.
People are not always the way they seem in real life, but in Squad 36, the characters and their grey shades are apparent from the get-go. While Antoine might have stepped away from the team to investigate the case by himself, Squad 36 remains mired in predictable tropes and redundancies.