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.
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.