Film Review: ‘Cold Blood’: Jean Reno Reprises Role of Assassin With Heart of Gold

Mark Jackson
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Retired assassins in the movies tend to like to live way out in the wilderness, in rustic yet technologically well-appointed cabins. Very cliché by now. I could run a list of examples, but I’m bored by the prospect of it.

And so here’s that exceptionally Gallic-nosed 70-year-old Frenchman Jean Reno, reprising his wheelhouse role of playing an assassin. This time he’s an ex-assassin named Henry, who lives in some generic Pacific Northwest mountain range, in a rustic cabin on stilts, where he can ice-fish off his deck.

Jean Reno plays Henry, a retired hit man in "Cold Blood." (Goldcrest Films International)
Jean Reno plays Henry, a retired hit man in "Cold Blood." Goldcrest Films International
The hit-man way of life is still how he rolls; you can tell because his sole reading material is Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War.” Had it been Steven Pressfield’s “The War of Art,” this English-language thriller “Cold Blood,” by French director Frédéric Petitjean, might have been interesting.

Snowmobile Skedaddle 

Melody (Sarah Lind) is a young woman who is setting off on a snowmobile version of a walkabout. She’s fixing to cross wintry mountain ranges all the way to the ocean, all by her lonesome.

Except that backwoods solo-snowmobiling is X-Games-level dangerous, and she eventually caroms off a few trees, retaining many massive splinters. She crawls away from the scene of the crash, leaving a blood trail a mile wide for wolves to stroll leisurely after her.

Sarah Lind plays Melody, a young woman taking a long snowmobile trip, in "Cold Blood." (Goldcrest Films International)
Sarah Lind plays Melody, a young woman taking a long snowmobile trip, in "Cold Blood." Goldcrest Films International

The other thing in Reno’s wheelhouse is playing a father figure to young, comely girls. The character could easily have at them in all kinds of bad ways, but he would appear not to even need to exercise restraint, as deep in the core of his assassin being is a highly upright, nurturing individual. It’s a reassuring feeling. Which is why I believe Reno gets to do this role a lot.

Jean Reno plays Henry, a retired hit man, who takes care of a girl who had a snowmobile accident near his home, in "Cold Blood." (Goldcrest Films International)
Jean Reno plays Henry, a retired hit man, who takes care of a girl who had a snowmobile accident near his home, in "Cold Blood." Goldcrest Films International
Naturally, Henry pulls out Melody’s mega-splinters, and gauze, bandages, and water boiling on the woodstove abound. She convalesces nicely. Meanwhile, we go back in time to when Henry was a stone-cold pro, whacking billionaires with dissolving chemical bullets in saunas.
One particular billionaire, it turns out, only has one heir to his fortune. Who might that be? The snowmobile walkabout might be a clue; “trustafarians” like to do things like treks to find out who they are sans daddy’s bank account. Revenge might also be a key issue in this movie.

Keystone, er, Yellowstone Kops

Some cops are naturally on the case of the slain billionaire, but who the heck is this motley crew? British actor Joe Anderson plays a New York cop (wait, why is he in the Pacific N.W.?) and does a serviceable yet over-the-top New Yawk accent sounding exactly like (and just as annoying as) the character of Mike Damone in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.”
Kappa (Joe Anderson, L) and Davies (François Guétary) are cops in "Cold Blood." (Goldcrest Films International)
Kappa (Joe Anderson, L) and Davies (François Guétary) are cops in "Cold Blood." Goldcrest Films International

He and his older boss (whose accent is completely bizarre) are here to connect the dots for the audience, except that they take all film long to get to the point, and you already got to the point after 10 minutes.

They’re joined by an African-maybe-American with an equally untraceable, odd accent. He’s probably African-French, judging by his name and the general French-ness of this endeavor. In addition to all the bad accents, there are a bunch of poorly dubbed speaking roles.

Kappa (Joe Anderson, R) and Davies (François Guétary) are cops in "Cold Blood." (Goldcrest Films International)
Kappa (Joe Anderson, R) and Davies (François Guétary) are cops in "Cold Blood." Goldcrest Films International

What’s Good

Luc Besson usually directs Jean Reno (“La Femme Nikita,” “Léon: The Professional”) and so Besson’s photographer, Thierry Arbogast, provides some beauteous photography of snowcapped wilderness, with some nice wolves sniffing around.

But your main takeaway will be shots of the Pacific Northwest (actually shot in the Ukraine), and a story about a lonely girl who searched in vain for the warm heart of a cold billionaire father, only to find that warm heart at the core of a cold-blooded assassin.

A poster with Jean Reno, who plays Henry, a retired hit man, in "Cold Blood," originally titled "Cold Blood Legacy." (Goldcrest Films International)
A poster with Jean Reno, who plays Henry, a retired hit man, in "Cold Blood," originally titled "Cold Blood Legacy." Goldcrest Films International
‘Cold Blood’ Director: Frédéric Petitjean Starring: Jean Reno, Sarah Lind, Joe Anderson, David Gyasi, Ihor Ciszkewycz, François Guétary Rated: Not rated Running time: 1 hour, 31 minutes Release Date: July 5 Rated 2.5 stars out of 5
Mark Jackson
Mark Jackson
Film Critic
Mark Jackson is the chief film critic for The Epoch Times. In addition to the world’s number-one storytelling vehicle—film, he enjoys martial arts, weightlifting, motorcycles, vision questing, rock-climbing, qigong, oil painting, and human rights activism. Jackson earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Williams College, followed by a classical theater training, and has 20 years’ experience as a New York professional actor, working in theater, commercials, and television daytime dramas. He narrated The Epoch Times audiobook “How the Specter of Communism is Ruling Our World,” which is available on iTunes and Audible. Jackson is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic.
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