TinsHeadline Touches You

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Abbigail Bush what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Derrick Gibbons An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

smccar77 "Dobermann" is a challenging film on several accounts. The film is a dark actioner that provides highly stylized violence being done by unlikable people in the context of a simple story. The challenge is not really in understanding the film; rather it is coming away from the film liking it. The reason this film causes some distaste is that lofty goals of portraying moral relativism are shoddily executed. The following will discuss some of the films underlying assumptions and both bad and good points.There are two main assumptions that this film makes. First, there is some positive value to showing a slice of life in which near all characters are unlikable. From start to finish, the characters with the most screen time are unlikable at best and despicable at worst. In all fairness, this is somewhat of an accomplishment. To populate a film world with characters that alienate the majority of the audience does take planning and a certain finesse to render. It does, however, beg the question, "why do this?" The answer is two-fold. On one hand "Dobermann" is a film that is trying very hard to shine a light on the oft untouched realm of moral relativism. In some circles, the idea of absolute good and evil is specious at best. This film gives us an hour and a half of actions done by people who have very little in the way of a moral system. Attempting to analyze action with any moral framework is quickly frustrated. Rather characters seem to act based entirely on pragmatic and selfish reasoning that is grounded wholly in the moment. On the other hand, and the second assumption, grossly taboo behavior is intended to be entertaining or have some positive value. This is a difficult area to work with. Action films are violent almost by definition. That said, there is often some context that justifies the violence and killing. For example, Bruce Willis in "Die Hard" strikes most of us as a defender of the innocent and thus sanctioned to take life. In "Dobermann" I found myself hoping that everyone would die at just under the one hour mark. The film made every character so despicable that any pleasure that could have come from viewing broken taboos was directed more into hoping that anyone who had more than five lines was shot in the head.That this film is shocking and upsetting is not the reason that it deserves a fairly harsh critique. One would hope that an audience is capable of admiring skill and quality storytelling even if the story itself is unliked. This film not only tells an unsettling tale, it does so rather poorly. The acting for the most part, and especially by the dobermann character, is hollow and outright obnoxious. These are stock bad guys doing clichéd things. In addition, the story is too simple to sustain a serious look at moral relativism. Basically, some crooks rob a bank and are hunted and then fight the police. That is the entirety of the story. A childishly simplistic story populated with vapid characters severely limits this films ability to explore any meaningful ideas or philosophical questions. The above mentioned limitation also has the possible effect of causing a terrible disconnect with the audience. Should one loose connection with the poorly thought out and muddled ideas at the core of this film, the experience as a whole becomes one of viewing stylized mediocrity.It may seem that I have nothing good to say, but that is not the case. From a technical standpoint, this is a well done film. The score, cinematography, shot composition and editing are well done and professional. The extreme violence, while somewhat dated, is uniquely stylized and enjoyable to watch. The movie is also very humorous at times. The opening sequence is worth viewing for its humorous kitch value alone. The penultimate aspect of this film is the bad cop. If there is one truly redeeming character, it is the police officer Christini. He is far and away the most believably evil human being to have been portrayed in an action movie. While this film fails in a great many areas, the Christini character alone makes it almost worth watching.On a personal note, I will only recommend this film to core action buff friends. It would probably be better received if seen in a group as opposed to alone. 5 stars.

dbborroughs The plot is simple, Dobermann and band of bank robbers are hunted by the police as they plan and execute a robbery. What they don't count on is that a crazed policeman is on their tail and will stop at nothing to stop them. The dialog is witty, the film making flashy, and the violence is brutal. So why don't I like this more? Lets face it this film exists simply to look cool and so the film makers could shoot things. The film looks great and the gunfights and the action sequences are mind blowing, the problem is that despite some witty dialog the film is rather dull when things aren't being blown up. I got to a point where I was reaching for the remote to get to speed to the next bit of action. Thats not a good sign.Should you see this movie? If you like big action sequences with lots of guns blazing, absolutely. You might also want to check this out to see one of the great screen villains as represented by the crazed cop who is hunting the gang. He will stop at nothing to get his man including giving a grenade to a baby.6 out of 10, great action and style takes the place of plot and character development.

Wilander This should be a fantastically amoral feast of over-hyped violent excess. There should be brutally hip carnage splayed from one end to the next, taking in the seediest plot imaginable, delivering amoral thrills to crack a viewer's teeth wide open. Let's face facts; This was never meant to be a movie about Nice, Kind people. Those folk, although fully deserving of their place in moral movies, just can't satisfy certain filmgoing needs. Give me pain, suffering and brutality! Not, as Jan Kounan gives us, flat characters, a non-existent plot, pointless, annoying camera movements and a soundtrack that in no way compliments the on screen behaviour. It isn't even properly violent, just dull. Watch "Ichi The Killer" instead.

assisted_death Having seen Vincent Cassel's previous films (Brotherhood of the Wolf, Irreversible, La Haine), i wasn't sure what i'd expect from this. Low and behold His performance as Yann was great. A great story with nice action blended in. Jan Kounen had great direction with this film. I admire his work now after watching this. Hopefully Blueberry will come here in the states soon, as i am waiting anxiously for it. But back to Dobermann. The opening church scene was a good way to establish Yann's roots as an anti-hero . From the bank heist to the Jo Hell Club gunfight, the intensity of the movie never dropped. Akin to Tarantino-style films, its no wonder i enjoyed it. Kudos to the Kounen/Cassel partnership as it yields great results.