Ad Vitam

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Elisha I @asapidox Jan 28 Tense, gritty, and surprisingly emotional. Ad Vitam delivers tight action with real stakes, not just noise and explosions. Guillaume Canet carries the film hard—raw, desperate, and convincing. The pacing stays sharp, the conspiracy angle keeps things interesting, and the emotional core actually lands. Not perfect, but absolutely gripping and well worth the watch. See more Sam A @Padlock Jan 24 It's was ok, but nothing special. It is full of toxic masculinity though. Lots of flashbacks of cops behaving like immature idiots, competing with one another. The main guy lies to his heavily pregnant wife and his stubbornness could have easily got her shot. Wish I hadn't bothered watching See more Ajeesh V @Ajeesh Nov 28 This was labeled as an action movie, but it’s surprisingly slow, filled with numerous flashback scenes — a few work well, but most feel unnecessary. For an action film, it has very little real action. Overall, a passable and forgettable watch. See more Khaliel P @RT59339161 Jun 22 The film is made up of 60% flashback—painfully slow and of questionable usefulness (since it adds absolutely nothing to the story; if the goal was to give background on what happened in the first 15 minutes, it completely fails)—and the remaining 40% consists of scenes that severely lack action, despite what the trailer led you to believe. On top of that, the director clearly lacks skill, constantly shaking the camera “for style,” even though it’s always at the wrong moments. The soundtrack is genuinely awful, and Guillaume Canet should really stop trying to play action heroes—he’s just not cut out for it. All in all, a forgettable film. See more Matthew D @OceanSage May 27 Surprisingly cool stunts in the beginning and end, but the middle flashback feels interminable. I thought Ad Vitam would be worse considering it’s an actioner movie on Netflix, but it’s alright. Director Rodolphe Lauga’s French action thriller Ad Vitam (2025) on Netflix is fairly average. Lauga tries a few interesting things visually as a director to make Ad Vitam engaging. I loved the opening sequence scaling the church with the ropes and the scary fall freaked me out. Cafer Ilhan’s neat lighting is quite absorbing immediately in the opening night scene, then continues throughout like the icy blue lighting in the home. The home invasion scene is pretty frightening right off the bat. I didn’t care for the extended flashbacks in the middle that interrupt the flow of the action. However, the resulting search for the hero’s wife is alright. Writers Rodolphe Lauga and Guillaume Canet’s story of a former agent’s wife getting kidnapped, so he hunts down her attackers is generic, but sets up for some cool stunts. I am surprised that so much of the movie is a flashback to the hero’s past in special forces. As far as Ad Vitam’s visuals go, there’s some nice scenic views of Paris’ cityscape, pools, streets, and landmarks captured by the pretty wide shots. The medium and close-up shots are engaging, but the shaky camera choices didn’t make me feel immersed enough. The shaking movements ruined the decently gritty and realistic fight scenes. Climbing on the rooftops is super cool. There’s some exciting chase scenes with wild angles that are striking. Maud Spriet’s art director looks nice and grounded. The stunt team is excellent at close quarters combat and does some cool things for the chases. That opening fall on the climbing rope is terrifying. There’s a lot more parkour, kickboxing, grappling and a variety of stunts than I was expecting. Guillaume Canet is likable enough as the former special forces agent and action hero Franck Lazareff with his vicious fights, stern manner, daring stunts, and raw emotions. When he’s expressive, he’s quite good, but he can be too stoic at times. Stéphane Caillard is good as Franck’s pregnant wife Léo, who is skeptical of his excuses and suspicious behavior in the present. Her past scenes in the special forces with him are far more engaging to me. Nassim Lyes is pretty engaging and intriguing as the recruit Ben. Zita Hanrot is okay as Manon too. Everyone else is pretty bad and forgettable. I should mention that I did enjoy the pretty film score. Overall, Ad Vitam is a fine watch for 97 minutes with plenty of stunts scattered across an intense story. I wish the middle story was more streamlined to perhaps show us the past first, then just get to the more exciting chase afterwards. Breaking up the story as it is was jarring. It’s not groundbreaking, but I had a good time with Ad Vitam. See more J D @RT67404482 Apr 19 This is totally crap!!! Unless you want to be misled by 5min of actions but dragged into meaningless and extremely boring not-even-romantic-nor-police-like 70min VIDEO, then this is the movie for you... even the last 10min of actions are boring, empty and dumb... I never learn... Netflix has been making crappy movies continuously... but I still watched because my partner insisted, I never learn...!!!!!!!!!(ANGER) See more Read all reviews

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