Reviews

Having read the book the film is based on, I'm really disappointed by this movie. The major reason for this is the screenplay by Justin Haythe.

It removed way too many interesting points from the novel, for example Dominika's synesthesia. It would have been really interesting to have seen this translated to the screen. Also, the novel is rich in details about spycraft. Of course, you can not include all this in a movie but the film features almost nothing. Then, the screenplay changes major plot points for absolutely no reason, for example the demise of Matorin has much more impact in the book because Dominika defeats him alone. And the fact that Vanya Egorov dies at the end instead of Korchnoi changes the entire movie to basically a bland revenge story without giving Korchnoi the kind of resolve he wished for himself in the novel. And last but not least this film contains maybe the most awkward sex scene in recent time (when I was watching this in the cinema, the entire crowd was laughing about it) - that is saying a lot when you compare this to the way the intense relationship of Dominika and Nate is described in the book.

Apart from the screenplay, I'm not really sure if Joel Edgerton was the right choice for Nash - the chemistry between him and Jennifer Lawrence feels off to me. And while I get that you need some name actors to sell the movie, are there no Russian actors available for speaking parts to play Russians in a spy movie involving Russia?

In the end, the only things saving this movie from being a complete waste of time are Jennifer Lawrence's performance, the cinematography by Jo Willems and the score by James Newton Howard.

This film tries very hard to top the first one in humor and scope. Some of the jokes work very well and are on the same level as in the original film (the chili condom, the river scene). Volker Bruch's performance as Hauke is brilliant.

However, in my opinion the film falls flat for a variety of reasons. For the most part the kind of humor has changed from a clever mix of stupidity/slapstick/wit/gutter language to two hours of hearing Chantal talk. The reasoning behind this is understandable because the character was one of the highlights of the first film. But this is too much. In contrast, characters which were highlights in the first film only appear in better cameos (e.g. Palaske's Charly) in this film.

The length of the movie is another issue. There are some dramatic elements in the film (the orphans) which in my opinion just don't work and simply drag on the movie. Deleting them would have sped up the film considerably. Another example for something that should have been cut is the last scene with M'Barek in the vending machine. While a similar scene in the first film was a highlight, this scene is just completely redundant.

There were also some technical issues which were distracting. First, the editing of the first minutes is very fast paced which does not fit for what is happening. Then, the score did not fit either for some scenes (e.g. fast paced/"action" music for quieter scenes). And last but not least, the explosion of the boat was one the worst VFX shots I have seen in a long time (in a theatrical film). This almost felt like something from a cheap C-movie.

All in all, I had some laughs, but the film is not on the same level as the first film.

For the first time in like ages this show has done something quite amazing for a German TV show: it doesn't suck.

If you're not familiar with German TV shows you might think "So what?". But if you're familiar with them you probably know that many German shows have at least one of the following problems: there is no adequate budget, the scripts are boring/ridiculous/... and many actors perform like they never visited a drama school. This renders many shows unwatchable if you're used to quality shows from the UK and US.

Now, I won't say this show is perfect, far from it. On the positive side, first comes Mathis Landwehr as Lasko. He may be a bit stiff on the acting side but is a great fighter and IMHO a good choice for the title role. The other cast members are okay. The fighting scenes are pretty spectacular for a TV show, I think they are on the same level as US shows. You can see that the producers have collected a decent budget so they can afford location shooting and some nice looking visual effects. The basic story principle is interesting and has a lot of potential.

Now, on the down side, the most problematic thing are, as usual, the scripts. The basic approach should be a serialized episode form where an overall story arc is established (something is indicated with the Ares organisation but not really elaborated). Instead we get too many "mystery-of-the-week" episodes. Then, even for a genre TV show like this, some things are way too convenient/unbelievable (like the takeover of German air-traffic control). The portrayal of the BKA, like a small incompetent agency where you can come and go as you wish, seems extremely far-fetched. Another crucial thing the show is missing so far is a proper antagonist for the main hero (which should be played by a really good actor, see i.e. Die Hard, Lost etc.). The writers had the chance of establishing not one but two of them (two female mercenaries) in the first episode, but they decided to kill them off. Quintus was going in the right direction but this character was killed too. Some smaller issues which should be fixed are a few of the more obvious visual effects (green screen effects of characters driving in cars) and the absence of a memorable opening theme/sequence.

All in all this show is a decent surprise. I like what I've seen so far and hope the writers will come up with good stories in the future. You should give the show a chance...

What in God's name has happened to Steven Seagal? Sure, his movies were never... the intellectual type but this film is so bad he should be ashamed to have done it. The action is boring, the story/script is a joke (where did the blonde from the beginning go? Where did Bulldog come from?), the characters are flawed (ie. John and Maxine kill everybody in the bank but when some guy asks not to shoot him John just punches him in the balls?!?) and the acting from the supporting cast is on porn-level. And that so called high security prison with it's 20 guards? It looked like it would cave in after the next storm. After this Steve should really consider to either stop acting or wait for a decent script to come along...

Just saw this movie and when I walked out one thought entered my mind immediately: What in God's name has happened to Luc Besson? The guy who made Nikita, Leon and the over the top but great Fifth Element wrote and produced one of the worst movies of the year (well, IMHO even his American Taxi remake was better than this and that's saying a lot!). Where to start?

First the script... utterly disastrous (granted, it's not to be supposed realistic but this was so WAY over the top I was wondering if this was a Neal Moritz film. Even the first Transporter was a little more down to Earth). The story had so many holes even Swiss cheese makers would be jealous of! Example? Gianni injects himself with the antidote to hide/transport it... Hello??? Another one? How do we escape from a parking lot? Hmm, there was this James Bond movie... let's jump to the next building... yeah, right.

Which leads me to the second point... the visual effects. Who did this? Some guy with his home PC? Man, this was done in such an incompetent way that the whole audience was laughing at it. The plane, the jump of the car, the exploding helicopter, the greenscreen shots, everything. This was not even TV standard... Not every film has a budget with millions of dollars for visual effects but there are other ways. There are so many talented people out there I can't believe this was the best they could find.

Well, on the positive side you have Jason Statham, one of my favourite actors at the moment (Snatch and Mean Machine come to mind), who again delivers a fine performance as Frank Martin. Then there is Kate Nauta as the psychotic henchwoman. IMHO played in the right way creating a good antagonist for Frank. Again the script fails to deliver by disposing of her in a few seconds in a really stupid way. I had hoped for a really great fight here. Most of the other actors like Keith David, Matthew Modine and François Berléand are completely wasted.

In the end this was a total waste of time of money and time due to a ridiculous script by a once great filmmaker and very bad visual effects.

I went to this film expecting not too much after all the bad commentaries about it, but in the end I think this film is quite entertaining. The acting is quite good and the filmmakers understand it to build a 'scary' atmosphere. Of course, this is no masterpiece like Se7en, but its okay... What I did not liked at all, was the ending. It was so (!!!) predictable. Some people even made bets à la "5 bucks she will save him". Moreover it was really stupid, that the killer's motive had nothing to do with the entire film. And maybe the worst about the film was this completely ridiculous christmas scene where both lead characters seem to be a couple. It seemed to me like the writer thought "Oh s**t, I forgot the two have to fall in love" and so he wrote this scene.

Bottom line: Quite entertaining but too predictable to be good. My vote: 6/10

BTW: What do Angelina Jolie and Julia Roberts have in common? The wide grin :-)