"Stille Reserven" or "Hidden Reserves" is a German 90-minute movie released for the big screen back in 2016, so not too old actually, maybe depending on when you read this review. Writer and director is Valentin Hitz and after a break of no less than 13 years, this is his most recent filmmaking effort and also his most famous at this point. This may have to do weíth the sci-fi genre for sure that still attracts audiences big time, even if it is not a very famous film by any means. But yeah this genre and German film is something that almost never works well together and sadly this film is not an exception there. Sure you won't see any big spectacular space ships here, but you don't need them either if you deliver in other areas. However, the suspense and atmosphere component here are not good enough either to make up for flaws in story telling. I would say that the best thing about this film is not the strange recurring insurance reference, but the lead performance by Clemens Schick and I like him and I am kinda happy for him that he seems to be having a breakthrough on an international level too in Hollywood, even if those films he appears in are not top of the crop sadly in terms of critical reception. So yes I am biased here, but I think he elevates the mediocre material sometimes too in this one and it would have been a worse film without him. Not that it is a good film with him. Most of the characters feel really one-dimensional, which may be a mix of sub-par writing and acting, but there really is not a single component that stands out positively. There is not one huge failure in it either, so the film is nothing that hits rock-bottom and maybe some of the biggest sci-fi fans will even enjoy it, but for me it didn't do too much. My suggestion is to skip the watch here and watch something else instead.
Review of Hidden Reserves
