The Last Mercenary

The Last Mercenary is a French action comedy about Richard Brumère, a former secret service operative who has been living in hiding for years. Long ago he arranged immunity for a son he never acknowledged, Archibald, but that protection is suddenly lifted. With Archibald wrongly suspected of arms and drug trafficking after a zealous official's mistake and with the mafia closing in, Richard returns to France to keep him safe. To do so he reassembles old contacts, joins forces with a group of bold young people from a housing estate, and clashes with an overeager bureaucrat. He must also work out how to tell Archibald who he really is.

David Charhon directed and co-wrote the film with Ismaël Sy Savané, following Charhon's On the Other Side of the Tracks and preceding his later The Gardener. Jean-Claude Van Damme plays Richard, with Alban Ivanov, Samir Decazza, Assa Sylla, Eric Judor and Patrick Timsit among the cast. Released in 2021, the French production has grossed around 105 million dollars worldwide, a strong return for the genre. On IMDb it holds 5.3 from about 10,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.4 from roughly 673 votes, indicating a more favourable reception among that site's users than among IMDb's larger voting pool.