flinsenbert Reviews

The Acolyte (2024)

How unoriginal and bad are you allowed to get?

[2/10 · 18 July 2024]

The lack of talent in storywriting and acting is quite astounding with Disney nowadays. This show just copies existing themes and ideas from the original trilogy and the prequels and tries to make them their own. The good ideas it has are squandered and not explored. And the scripts of single episodes are so bad and contradictory that you don't know whether the writers think we are all dumb, just don't care about the quality of their own work or whether it is a lack of direction, management and quality assurance.

The idea to explore a third way of the Force isn't new, but hasn't been explored much in the movies or live action series. On the one hand there are the Jedi that represent order and the good. They, however, do not allow relationships, do not allow passion, or love. This conflict has been explored in the prequels in combination with the person Anakin Skywalker and how his character flaws together with these emotions led him to become Darth Vader.

It hasn't been explored, however, whether family, relationships, children, motherhood or fatherhood can lead to the dark side.

In the Acolyte, we get... what exactly? Who is the protagonist? Osha? Mae? What is their character? Their motivations? What are their conflicts? How do they overcome their conflicts and develop by doing so? The answer is... well... They have stuff happen to them and react sometimes and rarely meaningfully.

And so do all the other characters.

Why do the Jedi break into the witches fortress instead of knocking? Why do the witches attack them? Why does Mae abandon her killer spree and hand herself in, but then has a knife in hand to murder Sol, then doesn't murder Sol when he is unconcious?

There is no meaningful plot, just scenes bungled together and tied with a thin thread.

Why does Torben kill himself? Why does Torben moan about wanting to go home, then as soon as he is told to come home goes to kidnap some girls? Why is Vernestra in the movie? Or Yord? Why do characters do one thing, then say the complete opposite? Like turning into a fog monster and disintegrating her child, then saying they "wanted to let her go"? Sure didn't look like it at the time. Why does fire burn in space? Why does Sol think he is guilty of anything? Why do Jedi Masters Indara and Vernestra betray the order and the council? Because some Jedi killed a few witches in self defense? Why does the Gopher attack Mae in one instant, but then sabotages Sol's ship one episode later, without anything happening between them or between the Gopher and Mae to explain that?

Nothing makes sense. Nothing follows a meaningful logic. Or if it does, is depicted on screen in a way that anyone could understand it. Pure incompetence.

And to top it all off, this is a full fledged assault to make the prequels meaningless, just as the sequels made the original trilogy meaningless.

Anakin as the chosen one and the vergence in the Force is apparently a common occurence. As is creating life out of the Force. Mae turns to the dark side because her mother got killed, another Anakin ripoff. The Jedi aren't made aware of the Sith in Episode One, they knew all along that they were around, since 100 years. And the last existing character that retained his dignity, Yoda, is apparently just a bumbling fool that can be deceived by any Jedi Master whenever they feel like it. Whether its Vernestra or Indara.

One star for fighting. Apart from that... please Disney, free us of this incompetence, starting at the very top of Lucasfilm. Compared to this the mediocre Ahsoka that fell off rapidly after a decent start looks amazing. That this cost 180 million is unbelievable.

Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023)

Pretty boring

[4/10 · 3 January 2024]

This reminded me so much of the movie "S. W. A. T.". If you havent watched that one, don't. It is, just like this, a "bring the team together" movie that never ever gets to the point. The point being the team actually doing something.

What's up with movie length lately? What happened to entertaining your audience? A decent first act, followed by a non-story. A clunky central plot twist. To set up a meaningless showdown with the villain. Who was pretty cool. Better than the female lead. What's up with women in movies lately always looking like they need to fart and it won't come out?

Zack Snyder really does exceptionally pretty pictures (although the VFX in this one were really mediocre, looking unfinished... just do different VFX if you can't pay the good stuff). Story, however, is not Snyder's strength. And neither is dialogue. Two people having monologue at each other is not dialogue. And the pathos... What worked in 300, did not work here.

All in all, a forgettable movie. That was 40 minutes too long. And was very, very boring. But pretty. And had a nice first act. 4/10. Below Par.

Ahsoka: Part Two: Toil and Trouble (2023) Season 1, Episode 2

A real Filoni tale, fresh and interesting

[8/10 · 23 August 2023]

Where the first episode was lame and boring, this one was fresh and creative. The boring McGuffin turns out to be something more. We get ancient artifacts that are neither Jedi nor Sith, nor anything else we know (hopefully). There is sense of wonder, interesting dynamics between the characters, actually new stories and worldbuilding instead of cardboard characters and rehashing the usual Star Wars tropes and characters. This was a really interesting episode, fresh and well made. I still hope we will one day get a Star Wars series without the Fight-of-the-Week(tm).

Overall this makes me want to see more. And i am happy that this series now is on a good track, after the disappointing first episode.

Andor (2022– )

At last, great Star Wars

[9/10 · 19 February 2023]

It is amazing what you get when people love their material. What Tony Gilroy has created with Andor is a masterpiece. A gripping show for adults set in the Star Wars universe. A mixture between Star Wars and Terry Gilliam's Brazil. With complex and evolving characters. A plot that takes you where you did not expect it. With artistic sets that recreate the style of the original trilogy, while having it's own identity.

And - talking about identity - finally there is diversity done right. Diverse and believable people that are not defined by their identity, but by their actions and choices.

How the series shows life under the dictatorship of the Empire, and how the Rebellion is born - not out of heroism, but out of necessity - is great TV. The characters are believable. Interesting. Multi-faceted. With only few cliches and tropes.

Even months after watching it, i regulary think back to it. The hopeless prison episodes. The power struggles inside the Empire. The amazing Stellan Skarsgard. The constant sense of doom hanging over the characters heads. Although you know what will happen to them in the end (like Cassian Andor or Mon Mothma) you suffer with them, fear for them, and rip your heart out when they are forced to make decisions they dont want to take. For the greater good, and their own good.

Wonderful series. This is at the top of the list of all Star Wars content, together with the original Trilogy and Clone Wars season 3+

Encanto (2021)

Average at best, filled with cliches

[5/10 · 7 March 2022]

Disney are prone to hit and miss. This was a miss. Actually it is the worst Disney film in recent years. A cliche laden and sugar coated snack that lasts not even for an evening.

Character arcs are filled with cliche (only non-magical girl needs to save the trolls... Uehmm, Madrigals; strong girl that feels pressure and isn't that strong; perfect girl that doesn't want to be perfect).

Then there is hardly any conflict. There is no real antagonist. And everything is being cured with a talk and a hug. And magic.

The message of the movie is just the same old same old: be yourself, family is important, everyone is awesome, love your neighbor message. A message that is delivered in a very uninspiring way. It's the same message as Moana or Luca, but lacking their finesse, uniqueness, songs, multilayered storytelling, character arcs, historical references.

Comparing this to Moana? It losey on every level. Even with the songs.

Due to technical excellence this gets 5/10 points. My main focus are stories, where it is more of a 3/10.

Eternals (2021)

Didn't expect it to be this bad. But it is.

[3/10 · 23 January 2022]

Oh my God, what did I just watch? Wooden actors spouting wooden dialogue. Or monologue. Uninspired faceshots after another, while a ridiculous science fiction story is fed through on screen text or narrated delivery.

And what a bunch of awful, unlikeable or simply boring characters. Most of which have powers that are just rehashed from existing superheroes. From "The Boys"/"Superman", "Flash", "Iron Man", "Black Widow" or "Dr Strange".

Plus all the interesting stuff falls flat. Or leads to nowhere. The dagger artifact that plays no role at all. The evil super deviant. The eternal/mortal love interest. The thieving eternal. The butler was cool, though. And props for a gay kiss in a Marvel film.

Too many characters that get way too much screen time in uninspired dialogues and slow faceshots. A script that is a mess. A post-production that doesn't cut out unnecessary 45 minutes. Too much narration, too many monologues. A diversity approach that felt forced and artificial.

The whole subtitle text part was BTW pretty hard for my child who can read well for its age but not necessarily in this speed.

Overall the worst Marvel film yet.

No Time to Die (2021)

No time to write a script

[4/10 · 29 December 2021]

Watching this movie leaves me as a Bond fan of 40 years disappointed and sad. The Daniel Craig movies were a much needed fresh breath into a shale franchise. Quality of scripts improved significantly. The movies went from random acts of action in random tourist places to nicely crafted cinematic story experiences, while adjusting the protagonist to a changing world.

This was true for the first half of "No time to die". Interesting plots, subplots, antagonists, challengers, allies etc. Were spun out. Then Blofeld died, and everything went down the toilet. The movie became an illogical mess that culminated in the worst villain shootout ever paired with a suicide like Bond death.

Why would Safin, the villain, abduct Bond, Madeleine and her daughter? There was no reason for it, no sense to it. It wasn't made clear either in the movie.

What is it exactly that Safin wanted to achieve? Noone knows. We only know that many people would have died. To what purpose? Unknown. For what reason? Unknown, only that "clients" were involved somehow.

007 is now a black girl. While i don't have a problem with that (unless this will be a new "007" franchise instead of a "James Bond" franchise), questions need to be asked about diversity in this movie. So the black ladies are subordinates only, and aren't taken serious enough to answer a simple question (double-o-what)? And the gay and the secrectary are the ones who go rogue close to treason?

Why is the 007 designation handed over like that without any reason?

Why is the mad scientist suddenly killed when it was the explicit mission objective to capture him?

Why is the main villain's plan not spelled out?

Why is the main villain suddenly coming back after he left for the "customers"?

Why does Bond more or less commit suicide? Because he can't see his wife and kid? This is such an un-Bond like move. And not a dignified ending.

And the super villain? Suddenly uses a gun to heavily injure Bond? Instead of some sinister plants from his garden? And gets suddenly killed by breaking his arm and then being shot? No poisonous plants, no turning his own madness against him? Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. Rami Malek should have gotten something better. This was just bland and bungled together.

Gripping and interesting first half, atrocious and sloppy second half. 4 points for the first half. 0 points for the second half.

Birds of Prey (2020)

Amazingly bad movie

[3/10 · 8 August 2021]

While others have pointed out that almost all men are portrayed as bad, this misses the point. Almost all women are lacking character as well. Furthermore it is a riddle how this movie can be seen as empowering to women, when there are no positive female characters in this movie.

Starting with the positive, the soundtrack and the set design are at times very good. Gripping, creative and fun. (EDIT: There are some funny dialogues in there, as well.). All in all the movie can be enjoyable on a very superficial level.

The story, however, is lacking in many departments. The main plot is how Black Mask wants to aquire the wealth of a mob family. These are encrypted into the structure of a diamond. Everything revolves around this. The story is, however, told very complicated, and through a lot of narrated exposition, included flashbacks that explain scenes that have already happened. Which is distracting at best and really bad storytelling at worst.

As an origin story for the Birds of Prey - with a focus on Harley Quinn - this falls flat on many levels. The 4 Birds of Prey characters, Harley Quinn, Black Canary, Huntress and Renee Montoya, all have their own subplots, that at times blend into each other. Additionaly the diamond is stolen by a teenage thief - Cassandra Cain - which further complicates the story for Black Mask.

Harley Quinn is an anarchic, evil character. Her story arc is about her emancipation of The Joker, her ex-boyfriend. They just broke up, and now she needs to get along on her own, hunted by scores of people that she crossed, insulted, humiliated, maimed or mutilated during her time with the joker.

Black Canary works as a singer in a club owned by Black Mask and becomes his driver after Harly Quinn broke the first driver's legs after a he told her to step down from a table.

Renee Montoya works as police officer on a case regarding Huntress.

And Huntress is on a revenge spree against the people that killed all her family, the original owners of the diamond.

None of their subplots work, and none makes the viewer like the characters. Plus, they do not drive their own story, but are only reacting to externalities, triggered by men.

Harley Quinn behaves like is expected from the character. This is actually fun at times, and Margot Robbie is a perfect fit for the role. She blows up the chemical factory, where she jumped/fell/got pushed into the chemicals that make her look like The Joker. This ultimate psycho ex-girlfriend move - a terrorist bombing - makes it known that noone needs to afraid of Harley Quinn anymore because of The Joker. This triggers all kinds of people to hunt her, wanted to kill her. This includes Black Mask, for whom she accepts to find the thief of the diamond. This plot is the center of the movie. But it is a bad plot. While Harley Quinn wants to be independent and free, she never actually does anything on her own. Oscillating from anarchic to pure evil. When her only friend turns against her because of money, this finally breaks the plot. She takes his view point "it's all about business" and wants to turn the diamond (or the thief who has swallowed the diamond) over to black mask. There is no core of virtue in this character. Only a selfish and cruel person, that lets others control her life for her. Why she is somehow suddenly on the side of the other three, instead of getting killed by them because she is clearly an adversary... remains a mystery.

Black Canary works in Black Masks night club as singer and then his driver. While she is depicted as the moral center of the story - because she tries to help the thief she knows from her apartment - she never acts unless it is forced upon her. She does not act when Black Mask and Victor Zsasz cut of the faces of an asian mob boss, his wife and his daughter. She does not act when a lady is humiliated in Black Masks night club. The only thing she ever does is to give information about the thief to Montoya. Even when encountering the thief and Harley Quinn, she does not act until Zsasz attacks her. Another weak character. No stringent set of values, no inner core of belief, no character arc to speak of.

Renee Montoya is being depicted as a smart cop who somehow did not get promoted because of her gender. Then, however, she steals evidence from a crime scene and brings a supposed ally, the female state attorney, into a potentially career ending situation. And gets suspended for it. Which kind of shows why she did not get promoted, because she places her own vendetta above legal procedures.

Huntress, finally, is portrayed like a soulless killing machine. She hardly speaks, just kills the people who murdered her family. No character arc, no inner motivations, no values, no choices, no obstacles.

This movie empowering? Not at all. Just like Captain Marvel, kicking ass is not enough to make a good movie character. There needs to be the possibility of an emphatical bond between the audience and the viewers. For me as a man, who does not give female characters more credit because of their gender, this falls completely flat. There is the cruel and evil psycho ex-girlfriend terrorist; the hesitant singer/driver with bad choices for friends, who only helps people she privately knows; the corrupt cop; and the bland revenge taker, who only distinguishes herself from the ones who want to take revenge on Harley Quinn by her skills.

That these 4 start working together, although their goals are diametrically opposed to each other (Harley & Canary, Montoya; Montoya & Huntress) or have no connection to the others (Huntress + Canary, Harley Quinn), just by doing magic girlpower handwaving, makes the movie not better.

All in all: Unlikeable characters that do not bring the plot forward, are formed into a Superhero Girl Group by the magic of handwavium.

Not to mention the fight scenes that want to be like Matrix, but look like Bud Spencer & Terence Hill for the most part.

Night at the Museum (2006)

A surprisingly good movie

[8/10 · 7 August 2021]

The way in which this.stoty is crafted is a thing of beauty. While each act builds upon the other, they are all very distinct, with different ways to build the characters and refreshingly different from what one expects. Especially the third and fourth act deviate from the expectations in surprising ways, making this a very entertaining film. A big surprise, great family entertainment and way more clever than expected.

The Mandalorian: Chapter 16: The Rescue (2020) Season 2, Episode 8

Great Finale with some weaknesses

[8/10 · 27 December 2020]

From a fanboy perspective this was a 10 out of 10. It was a "Can it be X? It must be, armament checks out, physical features...".

From a story perspective there was this long phase when the Superdroids advance to the bridge. Everyone just stands there, looks afraid and holds their blasters. Which is utterly useless, as Mando could tell. They advance slowly through a ship, no plans are made, no forcefields erected, no airlocks opened, no nothing. Our heroes, frozen in fear for 3-5 minutes, to be saved by a Deus Ex Machina event.

It was a glorious Deus Ex Machina, but this is - for me - nevertheless a highly unsatisfactory story device. It can be explained away by events earlier in the series, but nevertheless left a shale taste in my mouth. After I got my fanboy endorphines under control, that is.

Botched (I) (2007)

Splatstick for Gore Hounds

[7/10 · 31 July 2007]

I saw the movie at it's premiere at the Fantasy Filmfest in Munich, Germany, and I have to say it's very entertaining.

The movie itself is not a masterpiece by means of production design, acting, editing, directing or anything else. It is more in the B to C category. Trash, that is. But it is not at all pretending to be anything else. Just the other way around, it embraces it's trashiness by having the villain jumping around in ballet-like moves and similar things. This is one thing that makes this movie very likable. The other is that it is just so funny. If you are not offended by extreme violence and gore.

The theater was packed with the special kind of audience that is attracted to the Fantasy Film Fest, the kind of audience that will applaud and cheer when a head gets cut off and gallons of blood get poured around. But the cheering didn't stop there. As soon as the audience got into the movie, and got over an initial impression of crappiness (like a very rudimentary set, bad editing with scenes that were often just a bit too long and actors that were, with the exception of Stephen Dorff, sub par), it became clear to them that the movie is intended as a comedy and delivered funny and unexpected scenes one after another. And the laughter continued throughout the whole movie.

I really enjoyed the movie a lot, and in retrospect did not notice that it was actually 100 minutes long (although cutting 10 minutes off would have helped).

For it's great entertainment value (and isn't that what movies are all about ? ) I give 7 points. I cannot give less to a movie that I enjoyed so much, even if it has a lot of shortcomings on the technical side.

Zodiac (2007)

How to make a suspenseful movie without action, violence and profanity

[9/10 · 1 June 2007]

He is back. The Grandmaster of Angst delivers a dialog driven movie. And it's 158 minutes long. How can this work ?

When someone like David Fincher brings out a new movie, it's crystal clear that I visit the cinema on the first night it shows in Germany. I love "The Game" and "Fight Club" as much as I shudder every time I think of "Se7en" (having the most vicious and psychopathic antagonist ever). So, yes, I am a Fincher fan.

This movie, however, differs a lot from his earlier works. It is not so much "in your face", but more subtle and smooth. While there are scenes that frighten you (mainly towards the end of it) and scenes that disturb you (mainly at the beginning), the most part of it is dialog. Pure Dialogue, pure investigation. A rather slow speed, no action scenes, only a bit of brutality (and showed in a way, that the gore hounds don't get too much out of it).

But somehow you aren't bored. The absurdity of the case unfolding in front of you, a brilliant script and very good acting by the main characters just keep you sucked in to the movie. It is a unique viewing, and thinking of movies that might be similar, only "All the President's Men" comes to my mind. Although, having watched that one lately, I have to say that Zodiac is a lot better.

There are just so many layers to movie that it is hard to peel them off.

On the first layer is the classic "Who is the murder ?"

On the next layer is a harsh criticism of 2 of the three branches of the state, as well as the press as the so called fourth power. While the Executive obstructs Justice with it's haggle over competencies, the legislative situation makes it hard for the police to act and nail down the best suspect they ever come across. The fourth power, the Press, only tries to raise their circulation and happily follows the orders of the mass murder, investigates false links and publishes them, thus leading hundreds of false accusations and suspects that overburden the authorities and lead to right leads being drowned in a sea of false leads.

And on just another next layer is Obsession. The obsession of the murderer, who wants to have slaves in his afterlife and thus kills people. The alcoholic and substance abusing journalist. And the caricaturist that becomes obsessed with the whole Zodiac case and wants to embrace and solve it, losing his family and job due to it. And on the other hand the policemen that fight against this obsession and don't want to be sucked in by the case and don't want their lives to be destroyed.

All in all a brilliant movie, a must see, and probably a must-see-more-than-once.

9 out of 10, only because there was a point after about 120 or 125 minutes where I thought: Oh my, another act, it is time to come to an end. Just shortly. 5 seconds. Really.

Der freie Wille (2006)

A Showcase of unfocused film-making

[3/10 · 11 May 2007]

This movie is the best example for what happens, when someone does not focus on the script while making a movie.

The DVD booklet says a lot about intimacy, about how this intimacy with the characters was developed while making the movie. I can only say: Thanks for wasting at least an hour of my life. The movie starts with a most brutal raping scene that made me wanting to puke. From there it staggers along, with a lot of scenes showing Jürgen Vogel naked exercising, masturbating, and similar, until the love story with Nettie (played very well by Sabine Timoteo) develops.

The movie is 163 minutes. With enough meat to make it 90 minutes. In an interview the director (who shows his semi-existent camera skills in too many shaky scenes) talks about the script becoming "a kind of map with a lot of blanks to be explored while filming", and thats shown in the movie. 5 minute long end scene with Nettie holding Theo at the beach, 15 minutes chasing Theo through Berlin, etc. No focus. No story. Very arty. Thanks for wasting German TV-fee money on that one.

And we see way too much of Jürgen Vogels penis. Some things need not to be shown. Art is too impress without showing. Too show it all just shows that the director lacks the means to create all the horror and disgust without the clear picture. On the contrary when Theo breaks into a woman's apartment to rape her we see him leave, but we have no idea whether his demons got the upper hand or not. So there is sadistic curiosity when someone is raped, but when the free will has it's short time, it's too much to just state the fact and the audience is left in the dark.

The camera is so bad that it hurts. Has no one ever told the director that a digital camera is not the right choice for dark scenes ? When a leg in the dark, or a face, consists of about 5-7 shades of grey, the camera might have been the wrong choice. And the movie has a lot of dark scenes. And they all look the grainy way which is the best such a camera can do in such a scene. Maybe some less intimacy and some more professional pictures might have been achieved by using a real camera man instead of doing it all alone.

So, after all, the movie sucks. The actors are great (3 stars for that), but thats about it. 3 years of research and writing, just to throw the script away as soon as you start filming. But hey, who cares, it's not as if this movie was supposed to make any money. A classical German.

The Good Shepherd (2006)

Mediocre Movie

[6/10 · 26 February 2007]

I saw the movie yesterday and was rather disappointed.

First of all I fail to grasp the story. What is the essence of the film ? When you are in espionage business, you lose your private life ? Well, might be true for a few businesses.

And about the performance of the actors... How one can say that they were great performances is a mystery to me.

Jolie and Damon fail to be believable both as young adults and as mid-forties. Damon offers no real feelings, which is part of the character, but how this can be a great performance remains hidden to me.

I heard a lot of bad things about the movies, it being too long and boring. This is not the case, while it is rather slow, I was interested the whole time. But I failed to see the story, one day later the movie already is rather blurred in my mind, which usually only happens when I am under the influence when watching a film.

So, in retrospect, while not being bad the whole film is clearly no masterpiece, since it lacks both a good story, a clear message and great acting.

6 out of 10.

The Descent (2005)

Once again - see less, fear more

[6/10 · 5 August 2006]

I saw this movie a few weeks ago on DVD. In the beginning it is a rather unusual horror movie. The atmosphere, when all is dark and the women crawl through the cave, is excellent and you get a very very claustrophobic feeling, created by the darkness and the excellent sound that is muffled and very tight. It is something different, it is new and exciting and fun.

But then, there come the Gollums. It's not one horrible monster it's hundreds, and they are shown in plain detail only 5 minutes after their first appearance making them so much less frightening. The cuts are way to fast, in the fights sometimes you just don't see anything except some blurry, gory moves. Then you see the Gollums in plain detail, and you see them a lot. You just start to think: Oh, another Gollum. And they don't stop their noises by which they find their way through darkness, which is realistic but doesn't help much with excitement and fear.

Maybe I just don't get the point of the movie, but it had been so much better, if there weren't these creatures around all the time. Why not hear them first, see them briefly. Then pick the girls away one by one, or sudden attacks without seeing the monsters ? So that you are afraid of the next time when they strike, seeing them only briefly in their distorted form, making you think "What the hell is that" ? No, they constantly make noise, they just don't go away. Take that and the rather confusing end, and what starts of as a brilliant horror movie becomes average at best.

Horror fans will enjoy it, and I have to admit, I was frightened a lot in the movie.

But not sticking to the "What you can't see, you fear"-rule makes this movie so much worse than it could have been. Similar to "Wrong Turn".

So first act is a 9, the rest is a 4 to 5, that makes a 6 overall.

S.W.A.T. (2003)

Take a nice idea and make a bad movie out of it

[4/10 · 9 June 2005]

This is one of the worst action movies I have ever seen. It makes one wonder, how the decision making process works before someone spends 80 million bucks.

What is the story ? A french high profile criminal offers 100 Million Dollars to anyone who gets him out of prison. The S.W.A.T. team has to prevent it. Well, this inciting incident happens 60 minutes into the movie. Who read this script before shooting it ? The introduction drags on and on and on. Meaningless sub-plots are the main focus, as are training missions and the assembly of the team. The movie goes on and on without going anywhere. I feel really angry that anyone spent that much money on stars and special effects with such a really bad script.

Why does the gangster need to be caught and arrested twice, before he makes his offer ? Why are there 3-4 training missions, before the story unfolds ? Why is every last person of the team introduced with minute long scenes ?

This movie could have been a nice one. Great idea, but they just blew it. Cut 30 minutes in the beginning, and you have a movie. As it is, it is the worst dollar/enjoyment ratio I have ever seen.

Don't watch this movie. It's crap. It's boring. It's predictable. The best thing is the trailer.

Muxmäuschenstill (2004)

A hilarious portray of a really sick character

[8/10 · 27 April 2005]

After seeing this movie, I couldn't really figure out, which emotion had the upper hand. The pure amusement and enjoyment about a lot of funny ideas and wonderful dialogs, or the utter disgust about the main character.

Mux is a classic German tight ass. Believing in order and responsibility, he is taking on his own, personal crusade against crime, financing himself with the fees he collects from his victims. His action are based on strong values, values he thinks have been lost in todays society of trashy talk-shows and corrupt politicians. While hunting down criminals from graffiti sprayers to speeders, robbers and even a murderer, he works on a manifest to spread his word among the people.

The movie is packed with funny scenes and dialogs, especially when it comes to punishing the criminals Mux encounters on his daily missions. During these punishments it is when the first, creepy chills run up your spine as Mux uses violence and humiliation of the red-handed felons to punish them. And soon it is apparent that he himself is so caught up in his dogmatic visions and so full of himself that he only loosely grasps what we call reality.

While the movie goes on, the image of Mux becomes more and more bitter and psychotic, as the abuse of his victims starts to include sexual harassment and his love affair with his dream woman shows more and more his self-centeredness and the impending failure.

I always wondered how the movie could possibly go beyond the extreme scenes in the first 45 minutes. The end of the second act is rather slow-paced, and I was just about to be disappointed about the loss of tempo, when the story culminated in an absolutely worthy climax.

During Muxmäuschenstill I often had to think about my history lessons, how it would be if armed people only following their own agenda would be around. Analogies to the early thirties with its marauding SA troops exist, as well as analogies of Mux to Hitler, writing his manifest and convincing people to follow him instead of the corrupt system, all the while being a sick bastard.

I give this movie 8 out of 10 stars, there are a few things that I am missing, especially an external conflict with the German law enforcement, since Mux' actions (esp. the punishments) are definitely illegal, but highly visible. If you like to laugh a cynical laugh, enjoy the humor of dialogs that are totally out of place in the given situations, and the feeling of impending doom, you will enjoy this movie. I certainly did.