Review of French Connection II (1975) by Steven1981 — 24 Mar 2020

Director John Frankenheimer brings us FRENCH CONNECTION II which was made in 1975 and is an action, crime type of thriller drama.. Gene Hackman returns as Popeye Doyle in this sequel to William Friedkin's original 1971 film called The French Connection.

.... FRENCH CONNECTION II see's the absence of Roy Scheider from the original and played Gene Hackman's partner but Fernando Rey returns in French Connection II as villain Charnier... Popeye Doyle (Hackman) is in France working with French police to find Charnier (Fernando Rey) who deals in drugs but one night after being spotted by Charnier is kidnapped and taken to a isolated hotel where Popeye Doyle is pumped full of drugs by Charnier and his criminal goons then eventually thrown out of a car on the streets and left for dead and full of drugs in his system.

The French police save his life with probably the aid of a doctor but can't remember then Popeye Doyle (Hackman) burns the hotel he was drugged up in down and takes revenge on the drug criminals and gives villain Charnier (Fernando Rey) an on foot chase through the streets and eventually killing him as he catches up with a boat that's escorting Charnier.

Full of bad language, explosive violence, chases, shootouts and excellent action scenes and a great performance from Gene Hackman I'd say personally this is the best sequel ever made in film history and better, more violent and more entertaining and enjoyable than the original French Connection film.

What French Connection II does is take the original and make it more enjoyable and builds on it and makes a sequel of greater violence though more gloomier than the original I think French Connection II also seems a bit darker with the feel of a stronger threat looming on Doyle's (Hackman) character with more violence to the story.