A former soldier begins a frantic search for her son when he inexplicably disappears inside the US Consulate in Frankfurt. Trouble is, the powers that be within the consulate either don't believe her, or are actively seeking to obstruct her. So she will have to fight to stay free long enough to find him.
Exterritorial begins with a rather relatable and horrifying scenario; the disappearance of a child. Almost instantly the tension begins to crank up, as Sara (Jeanne Goursaud) - a veteran with PTSD - attempts to find her son in a place that is not only alien to her, it's inaccessible. Christian Zübert does a pretty good job of putting you on edge with a sense that something isn't quite right. Only it's unclear whether that something is with the consulate or with Sara, herself. Regardless, it's not long before she kicks into action, utilising her particular set of skills as she hunts for her son and those who took him in this Taken meets Die Hard scenario.
Jeanne Goursaud delivers a compelling performance as the tough but troubled Sara. Even with the question raised over her state of mind, she is this driving force - both within the story, and for the movie as a whole. Goursaud brings an authenticity to both sides of her character - mother and veteran - and Sara's desperation to find her son bleeds through into every scene. In the moments when she has to slow down or be still, you can see the unease, and the need to be doing something. While the fight scenes are well choreographed and more than a little intense. They give the movie a kinetic energy, and Goursaud is a big part of that, being right in the middle of it all, throughout.
It is a shame then that the further you get into Exterritorial, the more it unravels. At the beginning it's fairly close to believable, in that it felt random and almost inexplicable. No doubt parents would even find Sara's position a little too relatable as her panic, fear and desperation quickly kick in. All of which is made worse by the response of the authorities within the consulate, as well as our inability - to a point - to tell whether they're involved, covering something up, or they simply don't believe her. However, most of this pretty much goes out the window with the arrival of a certain character, and the movie suddenly becomes a whole lot more predictable.
Anyway, what Sara discovers as she pokes around becomes increasingly ridiculous, to the point where everything feels so far from reality or even the realms of common sense that even the relatability of a missing child can't save it. Then this fast-paced action movie comes to a grinding halt thanks to a finale so flat it drains all the tension from the story. And with it, surprisingly, goes a lot of the interest in Sara's plight, as the rather tired and clichéd reasoning behind this sordid escapade is revealed in full. It is a rather disappointing end to what could have been a pretty solid action movie with a tantalising element of doubt.
A fast-paced action movie with a reasonably compelling story behind it, that unfortunately drifts more and more into the ridiculous, before falling completely flat thanks to a disappointingly stagnant finale.
5/10
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