Red Siren (2002, Olivier Megaton)

I will rent just about any movie if Asia Argento is in it. While I've made some mistakes in the past (Trauma, Love Bites), I keep coming back for more. I didn't expect Red Siren to be any more than an exploitative erotic thriller, but, much to my surprise, I got a highly stylized crime thriller, a sort of 2000s update of Leon. Asia plays Anita, a French/Italian detective who comes upon the case of Alice, a 13 year old girl who says her mother Eva killed her nanny. Through a sequence of completely unbelievable, but enjoyable, events, like a wicked car chase and shootout in a gas station, Alice escapes from her mother and hooks up with Hugo (Jean-Marc Barr, who does a great job), a former mercenary who makes it his mission to deliver Alice to her father (who may or may not be dead). Whew. The plot involves a huge shootout in an enpty hotel, an evil mother who enjoys snuff films, and explosions. The plot is, as I said earlier, pretty unbelievable, but that's the thrill in crime thrillers most of the time. Jean-Marc Barr is great as Hugo, who accidentally killed a child in war years before, and has been trying to atone for his behavior ever since. Argento is not quite as good, but still pulls out an interesting performance as a detective who may have more invested in this case than is on the surface. The real revelation of this movie, though, is young Alexandra Negrao, who plays Alice with conflicting and paradoxical feelings that make her much more relatable and complex than any young girl should be. Again, I recommend this film if you're looking for a stylized, modern crime thriller that doesn't plague the brain too much. 7/10

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