K.O. (2025) is a French action thriller that was released on June 6th, 2025 and is currently streaming on Netflix. Written by Louis Aubert, Guillaume Lemans and Clément Marchand, and Directed by Antoine Blossier, it has a runtime of 1 hour and 26 minutes.
The film follows an MMA fighter who accidentally kills his opponent in a match and attempts to redeem himself by teaming up with a police investigator to find and protect the dead fighter’s son from the dark underworld of Marseilles.
Premise
Bastien, once a celebrated MMA champion, sees his world shatter during one fateful match, a powerful strike meant to win the match instead claims the life of his opponent, Enzo. In the crowd, Enzo’s wife, Emma, and their young son Léo watch in horror. And when Bastien attempts to visit the grave to offer apologies and condolences, Léo rages at him, causing him to leave in guilt and remorse.
2 years later, in Marseilles, there’s a violent gang chase in an abandoned warehouse, resulting in multiple deaths and one captive. The responding officer, Captain Alaoui Kenza, discovers the bodies.
As investigation ensues, she seems sure of the culprits already; The Manchours, a legendary gang that has been inactive for years and is rumoured to be nonexistent now. Kenza, of course, faces doubt and almost ridicule from her colleagues. But then she receives a private call from one of her informants, they sound troubled and panicked, asking her to meet them secretly.
Kenza goes to meet the informant, who turns out to be Léo. The latter is panicked and visibly shaken. He reveals that he did, in fact, witness the murder. He can confirm that the culprits were The Manchours, just like Kenza had guessed, but The Manchours know that Léo had seen them and were now after his life. Kenza attempts to calm him down and take his full statement, but the arrival of more police officers send him into another panic for some reason, and he runs away.
Meanwhile, shattered by guilt and unable to forgive himself, Bastien has walked away from MMA fighting. He retreats from the public eye and vanishes into a life of quiet obscurity and reclusion, taking a job in a salt mine near Marseille. He is reached out to by Emma, who has found out that her son is missing after receiving a panicked voice message from him. She explains to Bastien how life had been for them since the incident and urges him to find Léo and bring him home.
"You owe him that! You owe us that!"
Bastien reluctantly agrees, unsure but desperate to redeem himself. Emma explains that Léo’s last known location was his cousin’s house in the city. He reaches the dilapidated apartment complex where Leo’s cousin lives, and while searching, he runs into Kenza, who is also searching for Leo. They learn that Leo’s cousin was attacked and they head to the hospital. He reveals to them that he was tortured for Leo’s location but he truly doesn’t know where he is. Kenza questions him about Leo’s girlfriend, Inaya, and he reveals that her sister works at a nearby bar.
Outside the hospital, members of Manchour threaten and taunt Kenza, causing her to attack them. This leads the station to suspend her and take her off the case. With nothing left to lose, she reluctantly decides to work with Bastien, and they join forces to find Inaya’s sister.
Meanwhile, the Manchours have declared a full manhunt for Leo, complete with a bounty.
The rest of the film spans heart-racing chases, brutal fights, and equally heart-wrenching and heartwarming moments as the Manchours continue their sadistic rampage to find Leo, we learn the real reason why Kenza is determined to bring them down, Bastien and Leo come face to face again and confront their pasts, and a betrayal that could spell doom for all of them.
Cast and Performances
- Ciryl Gane as Bastien
- Alice Belaïdi as Kenza
- Maleaume Paquin as Léo
- Foued Nabba as Abdel Manchour
- Ibrahima Keita Stunt as Driss Manchour
- Mathieu Lestrade as Enzo
The character work in this project was such a perfect fit for it. I mean, they weren’t waxing poetry or anything, there wasn’t any hidden pasts or mind-blowing plot twists, but the way they were written builds such good storytelling for the plot.
Bastien is my favourite character, mostly for the fact that despite living in guilt for two years as a recluse, he doesn’t become a bitter, angry archetype. If anything, it seems like he has found peace within himself. He punishes himself with his reclusion and absence from his career, but it is not in a self-pitying way, he doesn’t let himself go or deteriorates himself, he doesn’t live as some slob who bitterly clings to his glory days. He understands his wrong, and despite it being inadvertent, there is a penance, and he accepts it, only wanting to redeem himself. And when Emma calls him to find Leo, he is wary at first, but takes it in stride, doing everything he can to find and protect the boy. And upon their inevitable meeting, there is no awkwardness or avoidance, he just gently attempts to build a connection with him, not wanting Leo to grow up without a father figure like he did.
Kenza is probably the best female lead I’ve seen in recent times, and not just because she’s an absolute badass (even though that is definitely a contributing factor). She’s just a beautifully well-rounded character, possessing an almost perfect balance of strengths and flaws. She is logical and quick at figuring her way out of situations. She’s assertive and alert but not to the point where she lacks compassion.
Even when it comes to her true motives for pursuing the Manchours, she’s rightfully emotional but not in the way that it becomes a weakness or makes her act irrationally (no matter how much mainstream media wants to shove that particular stereotype in our faces).
These days, it seems like “strong” female leads are only limited to one of two typecasts; “emotion-driven irrationality and stubbornness” or “silent, snappy and sarcastic” (honorary mention: the jaded, traumatized one who’s either an alcoholic or a man-hater). So it was refreshing to see one whose emotions drive her, not distract her, which is a much more realistic depiction of womanhood.
Leo, too, was an interesting character to explore. At first, he might come off as your typical teenage brat, especially after losing his father. But no, I wasn’t prepared for the level of depth that he gave me. His character does a very good job of depicting what it’s really like to lose a parental figure, especially in such a shocking way; the sorrow, the feeling of being lost and confused, the anger (that noticeably didn’t turn into prejudice against women, exactly).
And when shit does hit the fan, there’s the fear. Not the sudden urge to be erratic and prove himself to “be a man”, no, he’s understandably scared, as any human being would be when faced with a situation like that without the need to avoid being called weak (and shout out to Inaya, the ultimate ride-or-die).
What I Liked and Didn’t Like About K.O.
First of all, I loved the storytelling. The placement of the scenes alongside the pacing of the movie itself made way for little to no plot holes. Every question is answered without giving way for more questions. Even the traitor is most likely who you expected it to be.
I also like the way it depicts gang culture, it’s gritty and ugly and hurts a lot of people. Definitely not something to be glamorised in real life. This is just a very well-written film, and I will give it its flowers. I love the liberties they took with the characters, breaking stereotypes in subtle and much more meaningful ways, even right down to the romance (or lack thereof); at some point in the movie, Kenza proposes sex with Bastien, for no reason other than to unwind and diffuse all of the heavy emotions from that day’s events. It wasn’t an instant love story, despite the very good chemistry between them, and in my opinion it was a good way of expressing that it’s okay for women to sought out casual sex without the expectation of having romantic feelings for her sex partner.
The problem I had with that scene though, and probably my only problem with the entire movie, is how it played out. She attempts to kiss him, and he pulls away. It’s only then that she explains her intentions. After which, she tries to kiss him again, and he pulls away again, and it’s only then that she actually asks if he wants it, and he agrees. I don’t know, it just raised a little peeve with me about societal expectations of consent, but that’s a conversation for another day.
Final Thoughts
K.O. was a really interesting movie that deserves more critical acclaim. It wasn’t a cinematic masterpiece by any means (it definitely is no Sinners), but the plot is good, the storytelling is good, the characters are good, the fight/action scenes are good, and the actors’ performances and on-screen chemistry are also really good, so it’s safe to say that it’s a good film.
I rate K.O. (2025): 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Have you seen K.O.? Do you think Bastien really deserved forgiveness? I’d love to hear from you.
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