Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Zed is an American vault-cracker who travels to Paris to meet up with his old friend Eric. Eric and his gang have planned to raid the only bank in the city which is open on Bastille day. After offering his services, Zed soon finds himself trapped in a situation beyond his control when heroin abuse, poor planning and a call-girl named Zoe all conspire to turn the robbery into a very bloody siege.
Killing Zoe is a gritty, stylized Tarantino-adjacent crime thriller that benefits from a raw, kinetic energy and a strong sense of place in Paris. The plot is functional but thin — a heist-gone-wrong framework that leans heavily on atmosphere and character dysfunction rather than narrative ingenuity. Acting is serviceable, with Eric Stoltz doing solid work and Jean-Hughes Anglade delivering a memorably unhinged performance, though the supporting cast is uneven. Cinematography has a grungy, visceral quality that suits the material, capturing the claustrophobic bank siege with reasonable tension, but it doesn't transcend its budget limitations. Novelty is moderate — the film has a distinctive voice mixing French New Wave sensibility with American crime aesthetics and a nihilistic drug-fueled tone, though it clearly operates in Tarantino's shadow (Avary co-wrote Pulp Fiction). The ending disappoints, resolving the chaotic siege in a fairly abrupt and unsatisfying manner that doesn't fully pay off the tension built throughout.