Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Patrick is a tenacious lawyer specializing in environmental law. France is a schoolteacher who becomes an activist after her husband develops cancer from exposure to a pesticide. Mathias is an ambitious lobbyist working for an international chemical corporation. The paths of these characters collide as the lives of thousands are affected by a tragic act that sparks a powerful movement while the corporation fights to prevent the truth from being revealed.
Goliath is a competent French thriller that tackles the David-vs-Goliath corporate malfeasance narrative with solid craftsmanship but little that distinguishes it from similar films in the genre. The three-strand structure is engaging and the performances are credible, particularly Gilles Lellouche as the morally conflicted lobbyist, but the plotting follows fairly predictable beats for a legal/environmental thriller. Cinematography is functional and occasionally stylish but unremarkable. The corporate pesticide cover-up premise has been well-trodden by films like Dark Waters and Erin Brockovich, giving it a derivative feel that limits its novelty. The ending feels somewhat anticlimactic and unresolved, failing to deliver a satisfying payoff to the tension built across the narrative.