The Family: This is what happens when the director of "Nikita" and "The Professional" teams with Martin Scorsese

Today, I look at Luc Besson (director of Nikita, Leon: The Professional, and The Fifth Element and producer of Taxi, The Transporter, Taken, and District 13) and Tonino Benacquista's film The Family, which was produced by Martin Scorsese and based on Benacquista's novel Malavita (which translates to "Badfellas").

The Family:
Giovanni Manzoni is a ruthless and sadistic gangster in Brooklyn. Unfortunately, after leaking information to the feds, he and his family must enter the witness protection program, and end up moving to France. Posing as the Blake family, they attempt to integrate into their new neighborhood and act normal, but their old life catches up with them, and they eventually start dealing with things in their own way. The movie was actually surprisingly really good. Luc Besson is a talented writer and director, and this film really shows that. I've never read the novel this is based on, but now I kind of want to. Despite a couple references to Scorsese's work (including a really awesome Goodfellas reference), Scorsese appears to have barely been involved in this. Despite that, the film functions as a cool mob movie and action-comedy. Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Tommy Lee Jones, Dianna Agron, and John D'Leo are all good actors, and do a great job in this movie, and they seemed to have fun making it. Despite Jones not being in this movie too much, his character is important and it's fun to watch him and De Niro interact. The cast also includes Sopranos cast member Vincent Pastore, and Domenick Lombardozzi (Breakout Kings, Oz, 24, Law and Order: SVU, Public Enemies, The Wire). There's actually not too much action in the movie, but the final shootout, while very short, is pretty cool. There's actually a good deal of violence in it, but it isn't like Kick-Ass where it gets so dark and gruesome in parts that it overshadows the comedy and drama elements. In fact, this movie is pretty funny and cleverly written. The music is pretty interesting, and there's a cool scene where the director chose to play "Clint Eastwood" by Gorillaz, and the trailer featured an awesome song called "Feeling Good" by Muse. The Family may not be the best movie of the season, but it's a well-written and entertaining action-dramady with some great acting and a good soundtrack. 3.5/5 stars.

 (Images: Wikipedia)