Cédric Jimenez’s Dog 51 opens by trapping the audience in a whirlwind car chase that’s a smoke screen detracting from the assassination of a technical genius that created Alma. Alma is a learning AI that has been put completely in charge of the police state in a near future France. At the heart of the chase is Region 2 detective Salia (Adèle Exarchopoulos), a dogged professional determined to crack the case. But the next day, police find another body that has connections to the case. So she has to team up with the grizzled detective from Region 3 named Zem (Gilles Lellouche) to find out how all of it connects. New leads start to emerge as the police commander quickly declares the case closed, blaming the anti-AI protest group BreakWalls, which only steels Salia’s reserve to find the real truth.
Wrapped in a high gloss that evokes a marriage of Blade Runner and District B-13 esthetics, at the heart of it Dog 51 is basically a conventional crime/police procedural that’s not groundbreaking. However, it’s an exceptionally well-told and paced one that will keep audiences engaged throughout the entire runtime. You’ll be able to see a couple of the twists a mile away, but it doesn’t matter as the film still keeps ratcheting up the tension.
And that tension works because the chemistry between the film’s two leads is so electric that you can’t help but get sucked in. It’s perhaps one of the best pairings of all films in TIFF this year.
Image Credit: Courtesy of TIFF
- Rated: Unrated
- Genre: Artificial Intelligence, crime, Police Procedural, Sci-Fi, Thriller
- Release Date: 9/10/2025
- Directed by: Cédric Jimenez
- Starring: Adèle Exarchopoulos, Artus, Gilles Lellouche, Louis Garrel, Romain Duris, Stéphane Bak, Thomas Bangalter, Valéria Bruni-Tedeschi
- Produced by: Hugo Sélignac
- Written by: Cédric Jimenez, Olivier Demangel
- Studio: Artémis Productions, CHI-FOU-MI productions, France 2 cinéma, Jim Films, Netflix, Studio Canal, VVS Films
