If you need a director capable of delivering a consistent, albeit non-spectacular action film that manages to find a decent audience, no matter what the critics think, then you could do a lot worse than Pierre Morel.
One of Luc Besson’s many protégés to emerge from the EuropaCorp production line, Morel’s career has involved him in a series of mainstream action thrillers, either as a director or director of photography. This list includes French hits Area 13, by Jason Statham The Carrier, by Liam Neeson They are taken, by John Travolta From Paris with love, by Sean Penn The Armed and Jennifer Garner Mint, but its last function marks a change of pace.
Al Kamen, which is also known as The Ambush for overseas marketing purposes, it just scored the highest-grossing weekend of any film in the UAE or Arabic language released in the UAE and also marked the biggest debut of 2021 for an effort outside of Hollywood.
Filmed in the UAE with a local cast, Al Kamen is based on a fact that took place during a conflict with Yemen and tells the story of how a small group of soldiers trapped in the mountains were rescued by a daring rescue mission. Certainly not going to make a big splash in the United States or anywhere else, but it is an impressive distinction.
