Moltès (Lanvin), dangerous criminal, unmasks a mole in his organization. He shoots him down, but he is immediately arrested by the police. In prison, he meets Reggio, a warder. Reggio plays the lottery in his name. One day, Moltès wins the jackpot. When he hears that Reggio is on sick leave, he breaks out to get the ticket back. Moltès finds Reggio who tells him that his wife went to Africa with the ticket.
Le Boulet provides examples of:
- Action Prologue: In the first scene, Moltès unmasks a police informant and kills him. Then the police raid the place where the mobsters had a meeting.
- Avenging the Villain: The Turk is after Moltès because he killed his brother, who was a police informant.
- Ax-Crazy: The Turk is deranged and he kills people impulsively, including his allies.
- Barehanded Bar Bending: The henchman of the Turk bends the barrel of a gun during the fight in the hotel.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: Reggio decides to commit suicide when he realizes that Moltès is after him to get his lottery ticket back.
- Black-and-Gray Morality: One of the protagonists, Moltès, is a dangerous criminal. In the first scene, he kills a police informant in cold blood. The audience bonds with him only because the antagonist is Ax-Crazy.
- Blackface: Moltès and Reggio disguise themselves as black people to get to Bamako secretly.
- Bloody Hilarious: The scene where the Turk tortures an accomplice of Moltès: the Turk forces him to plunge his hands into an aquarium full of carnivorous fishes. When the second hand comes out of the water, only the middle finger is left, so the defiant victim can give the finger to the Turk.
- Book Ends: In the beginning, Moltès arrives in a French prison and Reggio, an obnoxious warder, tries to belittle Moltès, until another warder plays a trick on him. In the end, Moltès arrives in an African prison and the same scene happens with another obnoxious warder.
- Buddy Picture: The main characters, Moltès and Reggio, are not friends in the beginning, but they become friends over the course of the film. Moltès helps to free Reggio's wife even if he could have gone away with his lottery ticket. In the end, Reggio frees Moltès from an African prison.
- Bungled Suicide: After his wife leaves him, Reggio decides to commit suicide. He swallows washing-up liquid. He ends up in the hospital, but he survives.
- The Cameo:
- Association Football player Nicolas Anelka appears briefly in the market; and he plays his sport, natually.
- Jamel Debbouze as the Moroccan prison guard.
- Changed My Mind, Kid: When Moltès finally gets his lottery ticket back, Reggio expects him to meet the Turk to exchange the ticket against his wife. Initially, Moltès refuses and he tells Reggio that saving Pauline is not his problem. Finally, he changes his mind and he comes back to fight the Turk.
- Chase Scene:
- There is one in Paris in the beginning: Moltès is chased by the cops and he destroys a Ferris wheel.
- In the end, Moltès is chased by the cops in Africa. He manages to neutralize a Determinator cop several times, but the pursuer inexplicably reappears and keeps on chasing him. Finally it is revealed that there are 3 triplet cops.
- Coincidental Broadcast: When as Reggio realizes that he has lost the lottery ticket, the television informs him that Moltès has escaped from prison.
- Creator Cameo: The producer of the film, Thomas Langmann, plays the brother of the Turk, who is killed in the first scene.
- Crossing the Desert: To meet Reggio's wife, who knows where the lottery ticket is, Reggio and Moltès have to cross a Thirsty Desert.
- Damsel out of Distress: Reggio's wife is kidnapped by the Turk, but she manages to escape by herself: she neutralizes the Turk when he dances with her.
- Determinator: A cop is determined to chase Moltès. It already shows in the early Chase Scene in Paris. It is played for laughs in the final chase scene in Africa, where he keeps on chasing Moltès, even when Moltès thinks that he has neutralized his pursuer. Finally it is revealed that there are 3 triplet cops.
- Eiffel Tower Effect: During the first Chase Scene, the Luxor Obelisk in the Place de la Concorde is prominently showed.
- Expy: The henchman of the Turk is based on Jaws, the iconic James Bond villain who appeared in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker. Lampshaded when Reggio tells him that he looks like a guy from a movie with a detective who seduces many women and drives English cars.
- Ferris Wheel of Doom: During an already intense
Chase Scene, Moltès, to avoid the cops pursuing him on the Place de la Concorde, runs his car up a ramp to jump through a large Ferris Wheel, damaging it in the process. Then it starts to crash down and roll into the Tuileries Garden, straight between Moltes and the cop chasing him, until it ends up in a pond and topples to the side. - Fictional Counterpart: The "Rallye du désert" is very similar to real-life Dakar Rally.
- Fiendish Fish: An accomplice of Moltès has an aquarium full of carnivorous fishes. The Turk forces him to plunge his hands into an aquarium. The fishes eat his fingers.
- Fingore: An accomplice of Moltès has an aquarium full of carnivorous fishes. The Turk forces him to plunge his hands into an aquarium. The fishes eat his fingers.
- Flipping the Bird: The Turk forces an accomplice of Moltès to plunge his hands into an aquarium full of carnivorous fishes. When the second hand comes out of the water, only the middle finger is left, so the defiant victim can give the finger to the Turk.
- Gratuitous English: Reggio says several times "On the road again".
- Gratuitous Italian: Reggio asks "Capisci?" when Moltès arrives in prison. The same question is asked to Reggio when Moltès tells him that he must go with him to Africa.
- Gratuitous Ninja: The mercenaries that Reggio hires in the end are dressed like ninja and they fight like ninja, even if the story is set in Africa and they are Tuareg people.
- Hero Stole My Bike: The Determinator cop steals a motorbike to chase Moltès in the streets of Paris.
- Hidden Wire: Moltès finds a hidden wire in the clothes of the Turk's brother and kills him because he realizes that he is a mole.
- I Have Your Wife: The Turk kidnaps Reggio's wife. Then he asks Moltès and Reggio to give the lottery ticket in exchange for her.
- The Informant: The Turk's brother was a police informant. Moltès killed him for that.
- Interrupted Suicide: Reggio is going to commit suicide when Moltès and his accomplice show up at his house to ask for the lottery ticket.
- Ironic Echo: When Moltès arrives in prison, Reggio tells him that he must keep quiet, then he tells him: "Capisci?" and he demands that Moltès answers: "Yes, boss." The same lines are repeated when Moltès has escaped: Moltès tells Reggio that he must go with him to Africa. Reggio is then the one who must answer: "Yes, boss" when Moltès asks "Capisci?"
- It Was with You All Along: In the end, Reggio's wife tells him that the lottery ticket is in the bum bag that Reggio constantly wears.
- The Load: Reggio constantly drops clangers and Moltès has to salvage the situation. Subverted in the end when mercenaries hired by Reggio attack the prison and free Moltès. Double subverted when Reggio realizes that, in order to pay the mercenaries, he will have to spend all his money.
- MacGuffin: The protagonists try to get back the lottery ticket, but it could be easily replaced by any valuable item without significant change to the plot.
- Mating Dance: The mambo that the Turk and Reggio's wife dance together is overtly sexual. The Turk is constantly groaning. Subverted because his partner uses it as a trick to neutralize him.
- Never Win the Lottery: The ticket is legit, but Moltès has to spend all the money to pay the mercenaries in the end.
- Newscaster Cameo: Lionel Chamoulaud, a real-life sports correspondent, plays a journalist who covers the rally raid.
- Odd Couple: Moltès, a badass criminal, becomes friend with Reggio, a clumsy prison warder.
- Ramp-rovisation: During an intense Chase Scene, Moltès, to avoid the cops pursuing him on the Place de la Concorde, runs his car up a ramp to jump through a large Ferris Wheel, damaging it in the process.
- Tag Team Twins: In Africa, Moltès is chased by a cop. He manages to neutralize his pursuer several times, but the cop inexplicably reappears and keeps on chasing him. Finally it is revealed that there are 3 triplet cops.
- Thirsty Desert: In the desert, Reggio and Moltès have many problems. Their car gets stuck in the sand. They are attacked by Tuareg. They lose their camel. They get thirsty.
- Villainous Crush: The Turk has a crush on Reggio's wife and he proposes her to dance with him. This gives her the opportunity to neutralize him and to escape.
