For a multitude of reasons, I’ve become a connoisseur of French cinema, specifically action thrillers. If I had to pin down why, I’d say it’s because their movies tend to be darker and more uncompromising, even though it’s sometimes to their own detriment. When it comes to Netflix’s latest French action flick, AKA, I didn’t need to watch its trailer or look it up on iMDB. It’s simple: I saw where it’s from and its genre, and then I saw that Alban Lenoir (French Jason Statham) was starring. After enjoying the hell out of his last two productions with Netflix, Lost Bullet and Lost Bullet 2, these factors were all I needed to be convinced that AKA deserved a look. Man, was I right. This is the best action movie I’ve seen since John Wick 4, and while that was less than two months ago, I watch several action movies a week, so that’s really saying something.

Lenoir stars as Adam Franco, a black ops enforcer who serves in a shadowy French commando unit. When a Sudanese terrorist blows up a hotel in Paris, Franco is enlisted by his commander to go undercover and ingratiate himself with Victor Pastore (Eric Cantona), a gangster with ties to this terrorist. Once inside Pastore’s inner circle, Franco forms a bond with the gangster’s young son, which ends up complicating his ability to stay impartial. In the end, stuff goes down, bullets fly, and Lenoir does what he does best: beat the crap out of dirtbags. In terms of plot, there’s actually quite a bit more going on in AKA than what’s in this brief synopsis. It’s quite impressive how Lenoir and director Morgan S. Dalibert, who wrote the film together, clearly define all of the characters without impeding the story’s momentum. None of the storytelling is mind-blowing, but it is complex enough for those more discerning while also being simple enough for popcorn viewing.

Ultimately, what matters most in an action thriller like this is the violence, and in terms of sheer carnage, this is Lenoir’s best in that field. He clearly bulked up for this role, molding a physique that’s actually more akin to Hemsworth than Statham, who I still think is an apt comparison for the French leading man. This means that when Adam Franco hits someone, you can almost feel their bones crunching, or often cracking, as the man is adept at snapping necks. The gunplay is also stellar, mixing the practical (blanks, squibs) with the artificial (VFX) in a mostly seamless manner. Franco is involved in four sustained shootouts in AKA, and they’re all really brutal and riveting. There are also a few grenade explosions that I thought were quite nifty. Honestly, the only thing this movie is missing is a showcase car chase. I mean, when I saw Lenoir driving around in an old bimmer, I immediately braced myself for one. Alas, I guess I’ll just have to wait for Lost Bullet 3.

It’s a shame that AKA has received so little fanfare, since it’s the kind of action flick for which buffs of the genre get excited. While it may not rival Netflix’s biggest action movie (Extraction) in terms of visceral entertainment, I’d certainly argue it has it well beat in regard to screenwriting. By the end of AKA, I really cared deeply about its characters, even the lesser ones that had minimal screen-time. As someone who’s seen a kajillion of these, that sort of investment is pretty rare for me these days. Dalibert and Lenoir did a really good job with this movie, and Lenoir, should he ever hone his English, could have a future in Hollywood. He really feels like the next Jean Reno, but meaner. Then again, maybe he should just keep killing it in France. Either way, the next time he cracks some skulls, I’ll be there day one.

If I had to score it, I’d give AKA an 8/10.