"Die Sieger" or "The Invincibles" is a German film from 1994, so this one is already easily over 20 years old. It was directed by Dominik Graf and he is also one of the writers. Graf has been enjoying a successful career here in Germany for several decades already, even if he has never made it big abroad. For good reason though as I have seen a lot from him and most of it was mediocre or some of it even worse. This film here is a perfect example of that. The film is so full of ambition to create something great, but the talent just isn't there. With that I am referring mostly to the script that is all over the place, lacks focus from start to finish and really struggles with character writing about their actions, but also about their words. The dialogues don't feel authentic on several occasions. The result is this mess of a film here that runs for comfortably over 2 hours, but has nothing significant to offer. This is mostly due to the makers' thirst for extraordinary here. You don't get a breath really. When there is no action going on, there is sex or characters arguing. There always happens something for 2 hours straight and that is where the film is also very unrealistic. In terms of everything that happens, it could have been a 9 hour mini-series really (6x1.5). Just one other example why the film sucks in terms of writing is how several characters start screaming out of nowhere.
As for the cast, I think lead actor Knaup is decently talented, but there are also cast members in here who are fairly famous in Germany despite not being too talented in my opinion, such as Jaenicke or Hoenig, maybe Flint and Becker too. Wörner, however, is even a category below. There is nothing remotely talented about her if you don't count her tolerable looks. Never have been, never will be. Schafmeister is an actor I like, but neither the film nor the character helped him. At least a slight portion of comedy is probably essential for him. So yeah, overall the cast performance is as disappointing as everything else here and honestly the awards recognition looks like a bad joke to me. If these were Germany's defining films in the 90s, then maybe we are not at such a bad spot right now as this film is basically weaker than a Kommissar Rex episode from the crime perspective and action-wise basically on the level of Alarm für Kobra 11. There is really no way I can recommend this film unless you maybe consider Schweighöfer and Ferres talented actors with strong films in their bodies of work. Then probably you should watch this one here too. Or if not all is lost, you should think about your taste in film in general. This film is far from victorious, it is one where 4 stars out of 10 are still on the generous side as there is not one approach (script, acting, relevance, authenticity, focus) where this movie is at least close to being a success. Skip it please.
As for the cast, I think lead actor Knaup is decently talented, but there are also cast members in here who are fairly famous in Germany despite not being too talented in my opinion, such as Jaenicke or Hoenig, maybe Flint and Becker too. Wörner, however, is even a category below. There is nothing remotely talented about her if you don't count her tolerable looks. Never have been, never will be. Schafmeister is an actor I like, but neither the film nor the character helped him. At least a slight portion of comedy is probably essential for him. So yeah, overall the cast performance is as disappointing as everything else here and honestly the awards recognition looks like a bad joke to me. If these were Germany's defining films in the 90s, then maybe we are not at such a bad spot right now as this film is basically weaker than a Kommissar Rex episode from the crime perspective and action-wise basically on the level of Alarm für Kobra 11. There is really no way I can recommend this film unless you maybe consider Schweighöfer and Ferres talented actors with strong films in their bodies of work. Then probably you should watch this one here too. Or if not all is lost, you should think about your taste in film in general. This film is far from victorious, it is one where 4 stars out of 10 are still on the generous side as there is not one approach (script, acting, relevance, authenticity, focus) where this movie is at least close to being a success. Skip it please.