BLACK (France 2009) ***1/2
Directed by Pierre Laffargue

Don’t let the slightly amateurish slow opening sequence and credits fool you!  Once the action packed BLACK begins – with a botched armoured car robbery in Paris - director Pierre Laffargue’s takes his audience from France to Dakar where this energetic update of a Shaft in Africa for hire takes on anything from a foxy female Interpol agent (Carole Karemera), a troupe of African wrestlers, sadistic Russian mercenaries to a supernatural snakeman. 

Action and hilarity blend well together.  The hero known as the lion, from a scar below his left eye, is played with gusto by MC Jean Gab’1 from BANLIEU 19.  A slight problem is the number of characters Laffargue keeps introducing into his action flick that result in a lost of a central narrative, but BLACK is still a joy to watch from start to finish. 

One can never tell what Laffargue has around the corner and that is the reason his film is always feels so fresh and entertaining.