User Reviews

In the vein of the excellent Swiss cop basher Strähl (2004), this dark Austrian comedy relies on a cartoonish depiction of a sympathetic loser trying to survive in an intrinsically hostile milieu – life. What Zurich's drug scene does for the former, Vienna's underbelly provides for the latter, with a cast of lowlife eccentrics firing off relentless salves of hysterical dialogues and folkloric swearing, most of it mumbled in thick local lingo. Renowned cabaret artist and actor Josef Hader is Simon Brenner, a failed cop but successful dope-smoker and alcoholic who now works as a paramedic for a private rescue service waging a ruthless war for patients against a rival business. Things fall off the stretcher when Brenner suspects his German colleague of a double shooting, whereupon he half-heartedly investigates the crime and, a few corpses later, unravels a murky ploy, roughly to do with State subsidies. Komm, süßer Tod, based on the award-winning novel by Wolf Haas, is yet more proof that unlike their German counterparts, Austrians have humour. Though subtitles might spoil some of the fun for non-Germanic viewers, I'd take a gamble that the satirical overtone of this weirdo will not elude you, provided you have a heart for grassroots extravaganza and occasional bad taste. But more than that, director Wolfgang Murnberger deserves credit for resisting the temptation of indulging in his offbeat characters and always resuming his main plot line, keeping the interest for the intrigue alive at all times. The filming and editing are fast-paced, nicely counterbalancing the Viennese languish ("Schmäh") that pervades all things living, with the notable exception of the German (commonly abused as "Piefke", the Austrian equivalent for "Kraut"), perfidiously played by regular Tatort detective Bernd Michael Lade. And although the resolve, culminating in a classic pursuit and showdown, is far too predictable and Tatort-style anticlimactic, the film manages to return to its basic premises in the epilogue, elegantly rounding off a fullblown comic hammer that'll drive your dopamine levels up.

"Komm, süsser Tod" or "Come Sweet Death" is an Austrian German-language movie from over 15 years ago. It was the beginning of the collaboration between Murnberger, Haas and Hader that went on till this date as the fourth and most recent crime movie about Detective Brenner has come out not too long ago. I think, except the new one I have seen all these films and I must say I really loved "Der Knochenmann". But about this 100-minute beginning here, I cannot say I am impressed. Not at all. The characters were not half as colorful as they were in the later installments of this franchise, the dark humour still is not even close to its best and the crime story is also not too compelling to watch, maybe because the antagonists are not half as interesting as Bierbichler's for example.

I must say I am a bit surprised that I ended up disliking this film here. But maybe it is the case like a fine wine and it needed to grow a bit older to become really good. And it's something nice for a change too I suppose as usually the first films are the best when it comes to long-running franchises, but here it is the other way around apparently. The title for my review here is also only partially true as Brenner is already out of his job in here, so we do not find out that much about his time with the force or at least I could say we only find out about it from people telling us about it. Simon Schwarz, the major supporting player, is in this film already too, but he also does not add as much as he does in the later films. Sometimes it also seems that they (or the writer) weren't sure already about how big the character was supposed to become next to Hader. Overall, I give this one a thumbs down and I don't recommend it. It is also not necessary to watch in terms of understanding the later film, so my suggestion is to skip this one and watch one of these newer movies instead, maybe the one I mentioned by name.