User Reviews

Well, I must admit, I wasn't impressed, when I first saw this movie. It was hyped in the internet for 3 or 4 years - far to long for this kind of film. My expectations were very high. But, after watching the "Making of..." documentaries of the DVD Edition I began to realize, that one must really see this film as what it is, a straight forward homage to typical 80ies Action Films we all watched on VHS when we were kids. I guess, the writers and the director of DEATH: DOWNLOAD must have seen ALL of the American and Italian B-Action flicks of that period and surely ALL of the Golan-Globus kind of films with Chuck Norris a.s.o.

So I watched again and found it very entertaining and honest. Don't watch DEATH: DOWNLOAD if you're looking for "interlectual" or "life-changing-pictures". This is pure entertainment from people who love (B) Action-Films.

The film is at times very brutal and has some gore-scenes. I guess, they were added to satisfy the target-audience, because this film really works on the characters. It won't need the blood and all this stuff to tell the story. But, again, this is a homage to B-Action-Films, so this kind of scenes have to be there.

The best scene is a gruesome torture-scene near the end of the film. Two of the main characters die in that one. It's a very intense peace of film-making, a great showpiece of the editing skills of the editor of this film. The scene takes place in three rooms simultaneously and the characters interact through windows made of bullet-proof glass. When the action starts all is filmed in slow-motion and you have this wonderful piece of music (no sound effects at all). It really catches me.

The DVD has English subtitles BTW

Wow, what an outstanding movie... now seriously: Germany's movie productions in fact can compete with any worldwide. Budget is usually low but content makes up for that. However Death: Download is not of that kind. Some of the action scenes are tolerable, I suppose, but actors, the plot, the locations and above all the dialogs are terrible if not unbearable. Too many clichés are cheaply presented - in more intelligent movies one might sense satire, not here. The technical gimmicks such as forcefields and light/laser barriers should be left to science fiction movies with the necessary budgets. Also the explosions are added later, giving the impression someone painted on the celluloid. None of this could matter, if the movie hadn't had the air of professionalism, meaning that the camera was actually pretty good. By that the fundamental flaws are even more highlighted. Any amateurs that make movies realize and accept their position in the cinematographic food chain. So no one could seriously criticize them. With Death: Download however, the whole crew managed to present a movie that seems to aspire to standard Hollywood b-movies but merely embarrasses the crew and Germany's cinematography. A 2/10 for the main character's fighting skills...

I had the opportunity to watch this independent flick at it's world-premiere in Saarbrucken (Germany) and was stunned how well executed it was. One must remember that this film was shot for only 3.000,00 EUR. The rest of the budget was later added during post-production to accomplish DEATH: DOWNLOAD's nearly 500 visual effects (VFX), including ALL the gunfires (some 1000 blasts!), 3D-set-extensions, wire-removals and STAR TREK like animated "force-fields".

The acting was very good to. All the roles were clever cast with one exception: The one, who plays the bad guy's henchman "Rifkin" seems a little bit to small. But his fight-scenes were quite good! DEATH: DOWNLOAD is an "action-comedy" - as the director (a funny and entertaining guy) pointed out after the screening. One should not take this to seriously or see too much "meaning" in it. It's a fun movie to watch with your pals on Saturday night (do not forget beer and chips!), has lots of action, funny dialogue, some of the best VFX ever seen in an indy movie and is quite entertaining.

And YES, I will rent and buy the DVD!