I rented these because I was reading someone's article on parkour action scenes, and they mentioned Crimson Rivers II: Angels of the Apocalypse. I figured, hell, it's got that, Jean Reno, and Luc Besson had a hand in things. I know Luc Besson destroyed French cinema, something we owe him a debt of gratitude for, and I've actually enjoyed almost everything he's produced in these past many years.

So part one is about a world weary cop (Reno, of course) who gets assigned to a murder case up in some small mountain village that is the home of an uber exclusive university. Meanwhile, a different, kickboxing cop (Vincent Cassel) is investigating a misdemeanor defacing of a tomb that quickly becomes much more than it seems and is, of course, related to Reno's case. As with many Besson films (even when he's not directing, he sort of is), the script could have used one more round of revision, but all in all, I thought it was a thoroughly enjoyable movie with great performances, some good tension, a nice pace, cool cinematography, and gratuitous skinhead kickboxing. The horror aspect comes from the serial killer style murders that our two cops find themselves trying to prevent. The twist at the end is no sillier than most twists.

Part two takes on more of a horror feel since the action revolves around a monastery, religious nuts, and Christopher Lee. This time Reno is investigating the discovery of a body walled up in a crumbling monastery while another cop (not Cassel, unfortunately) investigates the sudden appearance of a half dead nutjob who thinks he is Jesus. As with the first film, there's lots of spooky stuff that is eventually stripped away to reveal the true scheme, and once again I thought the movie to be pretty good even though no one else did. The parkour scenes are OK -- it's no B13 or Casino Royale, but how often do you get to see dudes in old time monk cowls somersaulting off the roofs of abandoned factories? The script has the same problems as part one -- it's still never entirely clear what the hell Christopher Lee wanted the damn magical lost book for. I guess if you are Christopher Lee and a magical lost book is lying around, you have to go after it. I think he wanted to bring on the Apocalypse, or he wanted to sell it to finance the revival of the Reich. Something like that. But whatever. Monk kickboxing, monk parkour, monks killing people at the French version of Wal-Mart, Nazi monks with machine guns -- it was pretty fun stuff. Plus, after all the apocalyptic imagery and Biblical research and monks running around, the case boils down to, "No, these people are just fucking crazy."

If you've seen any of Besson's output, either as director, writer, or producer, you know what to expect. Lots of style, a tiny, tiny dollop of substance, a lot of rather unbelievable action scenes -- OK by me. I had a lot of fun with both films. They are kind of dumb, and the plots fall apart by the end, and sometimes things just become completely irrelevant (what the hell? Jesus guy?), but whatever. It didn't ruin the films for me.