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Simply A Masterpiece

How sad is this?

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

De Premier aka 'President Under Siege' is a fairly average Euro effort. The main lead of the film is fairly wooden. The plot itself is fairly straightforward yet unconvincing. Implausibility aside, there was a role in the film played by Stijn Van Opstalthat (The Driver) which I thought was outstanding. Bags of charisma and he commanded every scene he was in. I'd like to see much more of him. Aside from this performance the rest of the film is not really worth watching.

De Premier is the first film by Eric Van Looy since 'The Loft', the American adaptation of his own 2007 'Loft'. With 'The Loft' being trashed by American critics, there was a lot at stake when this picture came out. But Eric Van Looy successfully dealt with the past criticism and made an intense, suspenseful thriller, maybe even superior to his 2007 success of 'Loft'. From the first, rainy, shot of the movie on, the tone is set. You immediately feel something bad is about to happen. And the tone of the movie never changes, which is a great accomplishment. Van Looy mentioned that with 'De Premier', he wanted to make his own 'Jaws', meaning that every scene of the movie leaves you in suspense. He succeeded. Koen De Bouw, the Belgian Prime Minister, forced to kill the U.S. President (Saskia Reeves) gives a good performance. He portrays the PM in a credible way, balancing his character between helplessness and resourcefulness. The stand out performance comes from the menacing driver, played by Stijn Van Opstal. He drives the PM around and makes sure he sticks to the plan that was forced up on him. De Premier is almost perfectly directed, with some thrilling scenes, among which a bloody bathroom scene, but has one major issue: the story. First of all, kidnapping the Belgian PM to assassinate the U.S. President isn't the most credible story. But that's OK, since it made me want to watch the movie. The problem with the story is foremost the ending. The ending could have worked, if it didn't completely contradict previous events. With contradict, I don't mean to point out a plot hole or anything of that kind, it's rather that the ending doesn't match the overall suspenseful and menacing tone of the movie. The movie also tries to explain why the Belgian PM was chosen to assassinate the President and came up with some clear arguments. I just didn't buy them. If it wasn't for the great directing throughout the movie, I might have felt cheated by the ending. Nevertheless, this movie is most certainly worth your time, you'll enjoy the suspense but don't expect a satisfying climax.

The good: high pace, exciting, 2 hours of hard suspense. Decent (but not overwhelming) acting performances. Dark, grim atmosphere throughout the whole movie. I didn't get bored for a second. Many similarities to De Zaak Alzheimer, but with an even higher tempo.The not so good: bad, sometimes even corny plot twists. Certain things were just too unrealistic and could have been done better. It seems to me that either they had to cut the movie to fit within 120 minutes or they were out of money. The ending was disappointing, compared to the rest of the film.It does make me think about how a situation like this would play out in real life. Let's hope that it never comes to that.

Erik Van Looy's film 'De Premier' (The Prime Minister) has a special meaning since election day. It's about what could have been. In this movie, the American president is a woman, travelling to the Belgian capital on a state visit. While she's there, her life is being threatened. It's clear that Van Looy is not a big fan of Donald Trump. Not only did he (sort of) anticipate a Clinton victory, he also inserted Trump's much quoted 'hellhole'-remark about Brussels in the film. Don't get me wrong: this is not a political film. By no means. It's a thriller, and a very exciting one. In the pre-release promotion material, Van Looy promised us a roller-coaster ride. I must admit: there is no chance of boredom, not for even one millisecond. Right from the start, Van Looy gets the story going. And he doesn't release his grip on the audience until the very end. The story moves ahead as powerful as a cannon ball and as straightforward as a freight train.The film is about the Belgian prime minister, who is forced to kill the American president. The reason is clear: he is the only one with direct access to the president. The killing is supposed to take place during a private encounter, without any bodyguards around. In order to make him pull the trigger, the villains kidnapped his wife and two young children, and threaten to kill them if he doesn't obey. During the course of a day, the prime minister and his female assistant try everything they can to outsmart the villains, but to no avail. The question who will get killed in the end, keeps the audience on the edge of their seats.There is one weakness: the plot is completely unrealistic. The idea of forcing one government leader to kill another, is in itself grotesque. But halfway through the film, it gets even more ridiculous when the identity of the criminal organization behind the whole set-up is revealed. An awkward piece of dialogue is meant to explain it all, but the suspension of disbelief is stretched to its limits.On the other hand: once you've accepted this, you're in for an very exciting film. The locations are well chosen, the whole film looks very stylish, and there is no lack of suspense. The actors do a good job: Koen De Bauw as the prime minister mixes despair about the fate of his family with the dignity that comes with the job. But Stijn Van Opstal delivers by far the best acting performance as one of the villains. He is creepy and funny at the same time.Anyhow, whenever the American president comes to Brussels, this is a nice in-flight movie for him to watch. It will have to be subtitled, because I think the chances of an American remake are limited.