‘Exterritorial’
Sara (Jeanne Goursaud), a German war veteran, is moving to the United States with her son, Josh (Rickson Guy da Silva), to accept a job when he is abducted in the consulate. Although Sara begs for help, the consulate’s smarmy security officer, Eric (Dougray Scott), claims her son was never with her.
Like “Flightplan,” another film about a mother searching for her missing child, “Exterritorial,” written and directed by Christian Zübert, makes gaslighting a juicy subject for an action thriller. In her pursuit, which is often slowed by her post-traumatic stress disorder, Sara discovers a secret drug ring and an imprisoned whistle-blower (Lera Abova). An expert in hand-to-hand combat, Sara also engages in bone-rattling scrums with consulate personnel. The oppressively white and bright setting, the psychological angst felt by Sara, and Zübert’s insistence on long takes make “Exterritorial” succeed as a frustrating fight for recognition.
‘Fear Below’
Rent or buy on most major platforms.
In the director Matthew Holmes’s striking shark movie “Fear Below,” a diving team — Clara (Hermione Corfield), Jimmy (Jacob Junior Nayinggul) and Ernie (Arthur Angel) — is hired by a rugged gangster named Dylan (Jake Ryan) to salvage boxes of gold bars trapped in a truck at the bottom of a deep and dirty river. It’s a simple job complicated by a deadly female bull shark circling the treasure.
“Fear Below” is both politically conscious — using its 1940s Australian background to comment on the sexism and racism of the era — and downright thrilling. While the wrathful Dylan is an easy-to-hate heel, the shark is commandingly elusive. The dingy water means the bloodthirsty predator can appear anytime, and the extreme close-ups in the divers’ helmets adds to the limited visibility. The two angles combine for a shark movie that ends with a crunch.
‘Harbin’
Following a freezing, bloody battle, the generous Ahn Jung-geun (Hyun Bin), a Korean officer, stops his men from executing Tatsuo Mori (Park Hoon), a Japanese major. That gracious decision allows the major to regroup, attack, and kill Ahn’s comrades. After wandering the wilderness for 40 days, Ahn links up with his remaining brethren with a promise to assassinate the prime minister of Japan at Harbin train station in China. Aware of Ahn’s plans, Major Mori aims to kill him.
Set in 1909, Woo Min-ho’s “Harbin,” which covers Korea’s fight for independence from Japan, leans on wide angles and a deep depth of field to produce intimacy and epic scale. The opening armed skirmish, for instance, is bathed in an icy blue hue. A mole hidden in the Korean ranks adds intrigue, leading to a climactic assassination where the film’s period elegance morphs into a cathartic barrage of bullets. In “Harbin,” rebellion is a dish best served cold.
‘Last Bullet’
The latest installment in the high-octane trilogy about French cops with fast cars busting criminals is deeply interconnected. “Last Bullet” begins with a fugitive former police officer named Areski (Nicolas Duvauchelle) returning to southern France from Germany to retrieve his wife and son before his former boss, the corrupt head of narcotics (Gérard Lanvin), kills him. At the same time, a vengeful Lino (Lenoir) wants to capture the head of narcotics, Commander Resz, and is also seeking retribution against Areski for killing his mentor.
While this film features plenty of moving pieces, “Last Bullet” is beautiful and direct. There’s a taxing fist fight on a tram and a tightly choreographed car chase that begins in parks before winding through bustling city streets. The destruction relies on practical effects: A helicopter explodes, and a semi-truck is smashed. The filmmaking is so immersive, a camera is mounted on a car that tumbles off a cliff. These adrenaline-filled components make “Last Bullet” a toned addition to this sleek franchise.
‘Unit 234’
Rent or buy on most major platforms.
With rom-com hits like “Hitch” and “Sweet Home Alabama” on his résumé, the director Andy Tennant’s decision to make the juicy claustrophobic action-thriller “Unit 234” is a wonderful surprise. Set at a Florida-based storage facility owned by Laurie (Isabelle Fuhrman), a woman haunted by the tragic death of her parents, “Unit 234” is seemingly straightforward: Armed men led by the wealthy and ill Jules (Don Johnson) arrive to illegally gain access to a storage unit where Clayton (Jack Huston) is mysteriously chained to a gurney.
At first, it appears that Derek Steiner’s script is a film about trafficking organs. In reality, it’s a revenge flick whose good guys and bad guys are hidden until the film’s final minutes. Before those reveals occur, Laurie uses the contents of several storage units to defend herself and Clayton. That means the action here is based around her resourcefulness and desperation, making for a hardened and arresting film.
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