FRENCH CONNECTION 2

FRENCH CONNECTION 2: Pity poor John Frankenheimer. Four years after the original French Connection earned scads of money and worldwide acclaim, the journeyman director was chosen to stage the sequel on the streets of Marseilles as “Popeye” Doyle (Gene Hackman) continues his pursuit of escaped heroin smuggler Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey). While the docudrama style is carried over with no trouble, the script by Alexander Jacobs (Point Blank) is a stop-and-start affair that keeps our protagonist prisoner for nearly half the film. Kidnapped and fed a daily diet of heroine, Doyle is turned into a passive junkie then released to suffer the agony of withdrawal. This gives Hackman plenty of rich acting material to work with, but cheats the audience out of the expected car chases and masterful cat-and-mouse scenarios of Friedkin’s original. As a form of closure, French Connection 2 fits the bill just fine, but as a well-rounded follow-up it can’t help but suffer by comparison. Fox’s Blu-ray transfer however is remarkably smooth and blemish free, sporting a commentary from late Frankenheimer, an HD profile and brief conversation with Hackman on his approach to the sequel.