French Netflix film “Last Bullet”, which was released early in this month, shows welcoming improvement compared to its two predecessors. While it attempts to bring some extra depth to the story and characters, the movie also provides several well-made fast and furious actions scenes as expected, and it manages to reach its finish line fairly well.

The movie begins at the point around the finale of “Last Bullet 2” (2022). Its tough guy hero Lino (Alban Lenoir) was arrested by the Spanish police after making a lot of trouble around the border line between Spain and France as shown in the previous film, but he is eventually handed to a certain powerful but corrupt figure in the French police, who is already quite willing to cover up anything to incriminate him. While this figure leaves Lino alone, he and his men swiftly execute their cover-up, and Lino certainly feels bitter and helpless because he cannot do anything about that at all.

However, of course, there soon comes a small but possible opportunity via Areski (Nicolas Duvauchelle), who was the main villain of “Lost Bullet” (2020). After his dirty deeds including the murder of his direct boss were exposed, Areski quickly left France and then has been hiding somewhere in Germany for a while, but now he becomes the last one to be eliminated, because he is the only potential witness who can testify on the ongoing corruption of that powerful figure in question. When he finds that his mortal enemy has returned to France, Lino is not so pleased to say the least, but he and Julia (Stéfi Celma), a female cop who is also his ex-girlfriend, must protect Areski because Areski is their only chance to bring down their powerful opponent.

Once the story sets the ground during its first half, the movie goes all the way for more action and thrill. There is a busy physical action sequence where Lino and two other figures fight each other inside a moving tram, and you may be amused a little by a little humorous touch preceding their fight. In case of several vehicle action sequences, several modified vehicles are provided by a female mechanic introduced to Lino by Julia, and the movie effectively utilizes these vehicles during its action scenes. Yes, not only these vehicles but also countless cars are often smashed a lot throughout the film, and you may actually worry more about these cars than the human figures in the film.

Meanwhile, as being less hurried than its predecessors in comparison, the movie generates a little bit of gravitas as Lino and Julia struggle to do the right thing. It becomes more apparent that there is not anyone except themselves they can depend on, but they become all the more determined to beat their powerful opponent than before, and that is why they put aside their hate toward Areski at least for a while. One of the weak aspects of the movie is that it does not delve that much into how Areski and Lino feel about their respective relationships with Areski’s ex-wife, but I guess that would slow down the story to a considerable degree.

The story eventually culminates to the climactic sequence where lots of crashes and bangs happen on the screen. Although the result is relatively modest compared to whatever we saw from those Fast and Furious flicks, director/co-writer Guillaume Pierret, who directed and co-wrote the previous two films, and his crew members deftly handle this sequence enough to generate a substantial amount of thrill and momentum, and we gladly go along with a number of preposterous but enjoyable moments of vehicle actions including the ones involved with a yellow tow truck which is equipped with a certain special device on its back.

Nevertheless, the movie is still deficient in case of characterization. Lino sometimes looks like a tempestuous dude who does not think much about his actions and the following consequences, and it is rather relieving to see that he shows some restraint and consideration later in the film. In addition, several other main characters including Areski and Julia remain as flat archetype figures to be wielded in one way or another along the story, and those bland villain characters in the story remind me again of how much the effectiveness of action films depends on good villain characters.

Anyway, the main cast members of the film do as much as possible for filling their respective spots. Alban Lenoir demonstrates more potential as a future action movie star, and I can easily imagine him playing (or fighting) against Jason Statham someday. While Nicolas Duvauchelle provides some tension to the story as required, Stéfi Celma and Pascale Arbillot dutifully slip into their familiar roles, and the special mention goes to Julie Tedesco, who manages to imbue her supporting character with humor and personality.

In conclusion, “Last Bullet” is the mildly successful last chapter for its trilogy, and it is certainly the best one in the bunch. Maybe you should watch the previous two movies for some more understanding of its story and characters, but, in my inconsequential opinion, that may not be that necessary because 1) all of these three movies are pretty much same as being mainly about action rather than story and character and 2) Netflix thankfully provides a brief summary of the previous two films before the movie begins. Should I have watched the summary instead of watching the previous two films and then saved a few precious hours? You tell me, folks.