JinRoz For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Humbersi The first must-see film of the year.

Matho The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

krocheav Style is everything in this soulless film. Clooney delivers nothing other than Clooney, Blanchett her usual wooden hot as ice whore and Toby Maguire a foul mouthed scumbag who thankfully is made redundant but, not quite soon enough. The WW11 40's settings look great in crisp B/W (well, color drained b/w). The Ted McCord and James Wong Howe (etc) styled photography is the real star and without this I would have fallen asleep as did others. Cigarette company's must throw bags of money at film-makers who move into this era, as my eyes and lungs were burning just watching the unrealistic depiction of all those cancer sticks burning at every minute. It's difficult to believe this screenplay was adapted by the same writer as 'Quiz Show' - what a come down or was it the fault of the novelist who's one and only work this was?. Not one character has any redeeming qualities - leaving us no-one to care for. This also leaves the viewer with little interest in following an overly convoluted story. Thomas Newman's music score leans towards being a neat copy of Bernard Herman's 'Kane', Psycho', (etc) with Steven Soderbergh's direction modeled along the lines of Wells, Hitchcock, et all. While most of the film is technically good looking some scene's are let down by vastly over-lit sets. Soderbergh also acquits himself as a most capable cinematographer (as Peter Andrews?) but, the story is cold beyond any warming. Could have been improved greatly with better writing. Looks like most audiences wisely knew to stay away - making it little wonder the money did not flow back into this huge budget, cloned, box office bomb....

castala As it happened many times in film history, a film made by great artists, written from a book based on historical events, is ending in a tasteless pudding. Steven Soderbergh made many good films, often a tribute to many genres like "film noir", science fiction, cops and robbers, etc. We're having a nice cast in this film, and none of them should be proud of the result. It's tough not liking Clooney and Blanchett. and here, they are a strange couple. Probably because their relation in the story started before the Second World War, and we don't know much of it. It's not helping to try to understand where their love affair is fitting in all this complex historical scheme. Here, I guess the problem is the screenplay, based on Joseph Kanon's novel which counts more than 500 pages. It's complicated to make a story in a film lasting 105 minutes. The music is nice, the cinematography all in black and white is also very beautiful. But when the film is ending, you just try to figure out what went wrong. Apart the screenplay, we should also ask why choosing Blanchett to play this character. Her German husband seems too young for her, her accent is not credible. And her eyes are covered with dark lenses, which are giving the actress a strange look, like if she's not feeling well. Maybe she did. It's not completely bad, but after watching it, it's easy to understand why it was a commercial flop, probably explaining why Clooney and Soderbergh had to make "Ocean's 13".

Scarecrow-88 Steven Soderbergh is one of my favorite directors because he has made so many different types of films and the stories and situations involving the characters are of such diversity. In this homage to the war dramas of Hollywood yore has Clooney's war correspondent returning to war-torn Berlin after Hitler's fall, finding that his life could be in danger after he starts to pursue the truth behind the murder of his "driver" (Tobey Maguire, quite a douchebag), known for his black market dealings in the devastated city. Clooney realizes that a former "secretary" (and flame, the two having an affair) is linked to Maguire "romantically" (basically she's a lay he likes to bully). She is the driving force behind his nosing around. It seems the Russians and Americans are interested in Blanchett's supposedly dead husband, a man who worked for a Nazi rocket expert who enslaved Jews to build rockets in a mountain factory. Well directed in B&W on the Warner Bros sets that provide a evocative reflection of the good ole days (I kept thinking about Wilder's A Foreign Affair while watching it as well as Casablanca), the plot didn't necessarily blow me away and the performances are okay if not spectacular. Star power does mean something (Clooney, Blanchett, and Maguire) and their being photographed in a moody period in the gloomy damaged Berlin setting using the "classic style" (the lighting, melodramatic score, and flawed characters with their secrets and sins) certainly is a drawing reason to see The Good German. Blanchett portrays her character as guarded, protective of what she feels and hides behind this cold exterior Clooney is desperate to fracture so that he can see her humanity…but what she hides, some act she committed after Clooney left Berlin as Hitler rose in power before Berlin would be ravaged by war, could be too horrible to admit. Maguire is quite a loathsome creep in this film, and seeing him in this light might be a surprise to many of his fans, used to his more subdued, less hostile parts. The plot builds the mystery of "who is Emile Brandt?" and "what does everyone want with him?" with Clooney motivated to find out due to his emotional involvement with Blanchett. The use of profanity and more provocative subject matter (use of prostitution in Berlin a means to afford food, such an example) sets this apart from the classics The Good German is relatable to. I think as an exercise in "how to shoot a homage to the good stuff" by the director the film is an attractive diversion (he imitates the films inspiring him especially well), the plot never really catches fire. The "big secret" and how Blanchett can get herself a better life out of Berlin leaves much to be desired. Clooney, throughout, is treated as a patsy and his naiveté regarding Blanchett (we don't ever see what she might have been like prior to Hitler's rise and so this leaves her character an icy sort not so easy to like) really doesn't reflect well as he continues to face one problem after another. The Potsdam Peace conference is the backdrop for all the goings-on. America's infiltration in Berlin, and their secrecy as Clooney continues to get the run-around, is of significance to the plot as everyone has something concealed (one great scene shows Clooney following Beau Bridges to his office to talk Emile Brandt, with a number of key figures eyeing him with direct interest).

ivo_shandor Never have I seen a worse blight on film than this movie. This is a blatant ripoff of Casablanca, or rather a movie trying to be Casablanca, ripping off the poster exactly, even the lettering and style.I rented this film, hoping to see a period thriller piece. I was more interested in hearing the plot. This movie has the worst plot, and spoilers, the plot doesn't go anywhere, it just shoves in this piece of rubbish on building weapons and killing scientists. Soderbergh tries to do the old filmmaking tricks from the 40s, but they just fall flat and look stupid. When he does the old zoom in on a letter, with the black boxes around it like in the 40s films, you can't even read what the letter says, it's that terrible.It's a waste of time, don't bother with it, even with the cast, Toby Maguire is terrible, Clooney isn't anything special and everyone else is just forgettable.I'm surprised more people don't like this film for what it represents.