"French Connection II," is an interesting sequel to the award winning film, "French Connection." This time you have Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman) in Marseilles. Fernando Rey revived his role as the drug kingpin in the movie.
Anyway Doyle while traveling the thugs kidnapped him and they shoot him up with heroin, insult to injury since he's trying to stop the trade of the illegal drug. This happens for several weeks. Once he gets 'saved' he has to go cold turkey. Hackman gives a role with a lot of emotion and you have to feel sorry for him. He's trying to nab the suspects but instead is now battling his own addiction.
While this isn't as good as the first one it's an interesting movie. Hackman isn't just a leading action hero in the movie, he goes through hell, the character goes through hell. He's battling both addiction to heroin and battling his foes. Another thing that makes us see how difficult it is for Doyle, is he's in an country where he doesn't fit well. So the director doesn't make this an easy movie, you have a detective who is trying to stop a drug trail but is thrown these obstacles in front of him. There is plenty of action to keep the watcher happy and there is enough drama to keep the story believable. I would say a very average movie but with some interesting points to it and an interesting character study!
It's a pretty worthy sequel to this reviewer because it pushes Hackman's acting ability. He's a great actor and this 70s sequel is pretty good in itself, it's no, "French Connection," the Oscar winning first movie but it's still somehow works to keep it as memorable! So this movie gets 3 out of 5 stars, it has it's high points but still is average.
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