"Das ewige Leben" or "Life Eternal" is an Austrian German-language movie from 2015 and this one is the fourth entry to the crime/comedy series starring Josef Hader as Kommissar Brenner. The director is Wolfgang Murnberger, also as always, and he worked on the script together with Josef Hader and Wolf Haas, the writer of the original novels this entire series is based on. This is the forth installment actually to the franchise and I guess it is my second favorite. It is not as good as film number 3, but only because "Der Knochenmann" was just brilliant and this one here is merely good. It runs for slightly over 2 hours, so it is surely a pretty long watch, but apart from rare occasions in the first half, it never dragged, and the second half is extremely tense and rewarding. I guess I occasionally was not too impressed by some of the moments before Brenner returns to his home town, but when he does and Moretti, Düringer, von Waldstätten and Tiesel enter the picture, it becomes quickly all very interesting. With these names, you already see how appreciated this film series is in Austria. Not only did it score several important nominations in the big categories at the Austrian Film Awards, it also draws Austria's finest actors to its cast.
My preference here is entirely subjective of course when it comes to the actors. I like Hader and he is great to watch as always. Düringer is fine for the role he plays, even if he disappears quickly (you can probably imagine how given the subject). von Waldstätten I have never been too big on, but her physicality of the cold doctor fits nicely, which is probably more due to the make-up, but she does nothing wrong either and is okay. Tiesel probably does not have too much to work with honestly, but she is okay too. My favorite, however, is Tobias Moretti and it was really nice how he got built up as the main antagonist here. Decades after Kommissar Rex, Moretti is really at his peak in terms of performances, charisma and range as well. No surprise he is doing so fine in terms of awards recognition and the films he stars in and I think maybe he will even (despite his age) still make a successful progression to Hollywood. he is not worse as his fellow Austrian Christoph Waltz. And in this movie here, Moretti shines throughout it from start to finish, and even elevates the weaker moments. Of course, it is debatable if with all the cold-blooded killing going on, he'd really hesitate to shoot Brenner at the end, but maybe he realized that his own end was coming closer or maybe it just makes sense because he was also not the one killing Köck earlier. The almost only thing I did not like too much was von Waldstätten's character's confession at the very end and even if they built up doubts in her character with the vomiting for example, it still did not feel too authentic that she admitted to the murder. But this is just a minor criticism and despite that, it is still a really good watch. I highly recommend it, but maybe watch the earlier films first. Oh yeah, final note: Simon Schwarz is not in this one for a change. But enough other characters are in it to make up for that. Go see it.
My preference here is entirely subjective of course when it comes to the actors. I like Hader and he is great to watch as always. Düringer is fine for the role he plays, even if he disappears quickly (you can probably imagine how given the subject). von Waldstätten I have never been too big on, but her physicality of the cold doctor fits nicely, which is probably more due to the make-up, but she does nothing wrong either and is okay. Tiesel probably does not have too much to work with honestly, but she is okay too. My favorite, however, is Tobias Moretti and it was really nice how he got built up as the main antagonist here. Decades after Kommissar Rex, Moretti is really at his peak in terms of performances, charisma and range as well. No surprise he is doing so fine in terms of awards recognition and the films he stars in and I think maybe he will even (despite his age) still make a successful progression to Hollywood. he is not worse as his fellow Austrian Christoph Waltz. And in this movie here, Moretti shines throughout it from start to finish, and even elevates the weaker moments. Of course, it is debatable if with all the cold-blooded killing going on, he'd really hesitate to shoot Brenner at the end, but maybe he realized that his own end was coming closer or maybe it just makes sense because he was also not the one killing Köck earlier. The almost only thing I did not like too much was von Waldstätten's character's confession at the very end and even if they built up doubts in her character with the vomiting for example, it still did not feel too authentic that she admitted to the murder. But this is just a minor criticism and despite that, it is still a really good watch. I highly recommend it, but maybe watch the earlier films first. Oh yeah, final note: Simon Schwarz is not in this one for a change. But enough other characters are in it to make up for that. Go see it.