The Nest (DVD)

A very slickly produced and directed French thriller combining elements of Rio Bravo, Killing Zoe, Assault on Precinct 13, and James Cameron's Aliens.
A bunch of disparate characters (security guards, petty thieves, and a unit of French Special Forces troops) find themselves holed up and under siege in a high-tech warehouse. Their attackers, who wear night-vision goggles that make them look like alien insects (the wasps of the French title "Nid de Guepes"), are members of a ruthless Albanian mafia-style militia intent on recovering their captured leader who is also inside the warehouse.

What follows is a spectacular series of action set pieces that would put many Hollywood directors to shame. Importantly, though, director Florent-Emilio Siri has not forgotten the importance of character in this kind of film. A first-rate cast which includes Samy Naceri, Nadia Fares (as a Ripley-style kickass heroine) and Pascal Greggory (a veteran actor of French film and theatre), and an intelligent, pared-down script, make this one of the most surprising and impressive French films of recent years.