User Reviews

"Desaster" is a German(-language) movie from 2015, so still relatively fresh. It is one of the really rare efforts by writer and director Justus von Dohnányi as the man in charge of the script and behind the camera, actually his most recent. He is of course a very successful and prolific actor. But I must say this movie that runs for slightly under 1.5 hours was not a success at all. Looking at the cast members, I am not too surprised that von Dohnányi got a couple big names in here as he is simply a household name and he also acts himself in here, but if we are honest than there is no denying that the likes of Liefers, Looks, Peschel, Kurt and Winkler have also acted in many films where it is still really generous to call them mediocre and that's why the cast should not really make anybody think that this would be a good or even great movie.

This is a mix of crime and comedy. As the film is about hit men and people dying all the time, there are some serious moments in here as well, but honestly JvD went pretty much exclusively for the comedic approach here. Basically you could say this film is a Tarantino film in terms of the action and comedy, only that it is a very very poor man's version unfortunately. The dialogues ("bitten by a monkey" just one example) are not half as smart and entertaining as they aspire to be. And the general plot idea oozes mediocrity and there is just nothing memorable at all about it. The characters may seem bold initially, but eventually they all have a turn for the gimmicky side and it all feels a bit for the sake of it. I never had the impression I was watching authentic people in here and this is one of several negative deal breakers that keep this film from being a good viewing experience. So I guess overall, von Dohnányi should maybe stick to acting. Then again i am probably a bit biased here as I never saw much talent in Liefers and he is maybe the one with the most screen time in here. Germany really struggles with comedy films these days sadly and here we have another exhibit for that. Watch something else instead.