Jean Reno once again reprises the role of Inspector Niemans from the first Crimson Rivers film. This time out, Niemans is called in to work on a strange case of killings that have recently been occurring around Paris. While not each and every one of the murders is the same, they all happen to have a specific religious significance to them.

While Niemans is prowling around the murder locations, a younger police officer named Reda (Benoit Magimel) ends up running over a man who looks like Jesus Christ (Augustin Legrand) while on the way back from a stake out. After Reda ends up chasing a Monk through the city after he tries to kill 'Jesus' in the hospital, he and Niemans end up working together and they begin to uncover even more strange theological ties to the killings.

Niemans decides they need a religion expert and they call in a third police officer with a Ph. D in theology named Marie (Camille Natta) to help do some research so that they can all put the pieces of the puzzle together. Once they figure out the motives behind the murders, their investigation uncovers a secret organization with some strong political ties is behind it all and their intent is to bring about the apocalypse and create a new Europe.

This film starts off really strong – great sets, a nice gothic atmosphere, a great creepy monastery and some well executed and violent kill scenes set the movie up to be a winner. The opening scenes are tense and also pretty interesting and I had high hopes that this would turn out to be a really solid religious thriller kind of in the vein of Se7en. Sadly, once the movie hits the half way point, a lot of that tension has been lost and the characters sort of meander their way to the finish line.

The visuals are great from start to finish. Alex Lamarque's cinematography does a really nice job of capturing not only the antiquated monastery but also the Maginot tunnels and even the police station and the hospital where the film plays out. The movie has a very dark, gloomy look to it that really does suit the tone of the story quite appropriately. The action scenes are handled very well, they're punctuated with some gripping violence and shot with a reasonable amount of style without succumbing to flashy Matrix styled slow-motion or CGI enhancement to pull you out of the movie as seems to happen far too often as of late.

But the visuals can't make the film as good as it should have been. Despite the fact that the movie has a nice style to it and despite the fact that it has a pretty solid cast, the actors aren't given a whole lot to do aside from chase monks around or, in the case of the antagonists, try to evade the cops. Christopher Lee (it takes a little while to get used to him speaking French in the film!), a man of such immense screen presence, is good in his small role but that's just the problem right there – his role is too small and by the time the end credits roll we really don't know enough about his motivation as the leader of the group to really 'buy' the ending (which comes about all too soon and then hits us with a Scooby-Doo cutsey comment or two before it's completely spent.

Crimson Rivers II: Angels Of The Apocalypse is worth a look if you're into action/thrillers – it's not a bad movie at all. It is quite entertaining and it isn't boring, but it had so much potential to be so much more that I can't help but be slightly disappointed by what was, in all reality, a half decent movie.

Video:

Columbia/Tri-Star's anamorphic widescreen 2.35.1 transfer has been mastered in high definition and looks very, very nice. The black levels are deep and strong (important considering how much of the film takes place in dimly lit corridors and underground) and they don't break up or pixelate at all. Color separation is strong and distinct, flesh tones look lifelike and natural and there is next to no print damage visible at all. The image is strong and clean throughout and the only really noticeable flaw at all is some mild edge enhancement that you'll notice along rooftops and shutters during some of the scenes that take place in the city and in some of the parts that take place in the monastery. Overall though, this is a very pleasing transfer and the movie looks very good on this DVD.