Reviews

Ahmed Sakka and Ahmed Ezz's film roles overlap for the first time in this run of the mill tale of a policeman versus a drug kingpin. Based on a true story, the film revolves around Hamza (Sakka), a policeman out for revenge. His recently wed brother, who had also been an officer, was killed by a drug dealer while on duty. Before justice could be served, the criminal's brother, Salem (Ezz), the biggest drug kingpin in Sinai, busts him out of jail and wipes all trace of him off of the face of the Earth. Hamza requests to be transferred to the narcotics division and goes after Salem, trying his best to catch him and find out where he's hidden his brother.

There's really nothing very special about this film; it could easily pass for any of the dozens of B-list thrillers that Hollywood pumps out every year. To nobody's surprise, Sakka plays the same character he always does: the cocky tough guy. Though, in this film, his defining trait is his love for his brother. Everything else about him is an enigma, not a particularly interesting one but an enigma nonetheless.

Ezz stretches his range a bit and plays sleazy character instead of a charming one, though he shares the brotherly love aspect with Sakka. His character is a bit more fleshed out than Sakka's and he's definitely the more successful actor of the two.

Pretty much every female role is window dressing. Case in point, Hamza's brother's widow is shown to be a significant part of the family before his death. After he kicks the bucket though, she mysteriously vanishes from the plot. Her purpose is to make the death seem tragic, though honestly if they'd wanted to do that they could have made it clear that the death was actually a murder. The editing made it seem like it was a car accident and not a deliberate shooting.

Hanan Turk plays the role of Wife Hamza and suffering from neglect of her husband. Despite its small role, but she shines and fads in which they are originally a very professional artist. Zeina is another example of how shallow the female characters are. She plays the murderer's girlfriend and is used solely as a way for Salem to prove how much of a creep he is by lusting after her. Kinda Alloush round up the female cast members and is similarly underused.

The real kicker though is that the film is rather old fashioned. At one point, Hazem suggests using two different walkie-talkies. An old one, which the mob had tapped, was going to be used to broadcast false information; a new one would be used to coordinate the police team's real plans. This is as smart as the film gets and this suggestion was treated as a brainwave.

The plot is also occasionally unclear. We mentioned the vague murder, which is a travesty seeing as it kicks off the entire film, but the final showdown is also rather muddled. It's just really hard to keep track of what's going on even though not a lot is happening.

On the plus side, the film is sprinkled with a few good laughs and has an ending that leaves you oddly satisfied. Another really great point is that the film doesn't buy into stereotypes about Bedouins and revenge. Both leads are equally obsessed with revenge but it's portrayed more as brotherly love instead of an issue of family honour.

Those assuming that these two actors coming together would result in something exceptionally entertaining will be in for a disappointment, since both actors have solo films that are far more interesting.