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Reviews
Spione (1928)
The pre-ultimate Bond-film
Okay, the movie doesn't feature the secret agent with the famous number 007. But after I've seen this really entertaining movie , I wondered if Ian Fleming saw this movie before he created his legendary hero. It contains everything we already know from the James Bond movies:
- A strong and handsome hero with a secret identity number (this time 326) - A sinister and evil villain in a wheelchair (without a white cat, but with a striking resemblance to Lenin) - A secret headquarter for the villains - An attractive heroine, who falls immediately in love with the hero - exiting action-sequences and chases (featuring a crashing train and motorcycles) etc., etc. . Willy Fritsch is very good in the role of the hero (even though you wouldn't associate him with this genre when you saw his comedies) and Rudolf Klein Rogge (the mad scientist from Metropolis) is perfectly evil. The movie is fast-paced and very entertaining, despite its length of nearly three hours. Lang shows that he is correctly regarded as one of the best german directors of all time and that he is capable of succeeding in every genre, be it science-fiction, crime or even spy-adventures.
Dune (1984)
They said it couldn't be filmed and they were right
This movie has a two virtues that keep it from being a complete disaster: the costume design and the perfect set-decoration. They aren't only impressive but also help to create the unique atmosphere that made Frank Herbert's science-fiction saga one of the best ever written. But this film has also two enormous flaws that make it a huge disappointment: To those who haven't read the book, it doesn't make any sense and it's impossible to follow the plot. And to those who have read the book, it will occur that the monumental and carefully developed story has been blown up into smitherings. I read the book after I saw this movie, so I know what I'm talking about. I really appreciated the former films of director David Lynch, but his adaption of "Dune" was obviously the wrong project for his surrealistic and pseudo-esoteric ideas. The book didn't suggest these ideas and that's why the film becomes such a confusing and uneven mess.
Ran (1985)
Kurosawa's greatest effort
"Ran" is certainly one of the most magnificent epics ever to grace the screen. I was only able to watch it on video and I'm longing to see it on the big screen to fully appreciate Akira Kurosawa's ultimate statement about war. It's not only the masterly directed battle-scenes (which are among the best of all time, that is for sure) that make this film one the best war-epics, along with "Lawrence of Arabia" or "All quiet on the western front". It is Kurosawa's whole treatment of this complex adaption of Shakespeare's "King Lear": He reflects on the reasons of war, how longtime allies become enemies, how the victims split up in those who forgive and those who revenge and about the innocent, who pay in a war the highest price of all. All these elements are carefully developed and Kurosawa takes a lot of time to unfold his story. And to all, who think this movie needs to much time until something interesting happens: stay at least until the first battle. You'll see, everything that seemed boring or not interesting will work out perfectly and add up to one of the greatest movies of all time.
Romeo Must Die (2000)
A great disappointment
I watched this movie a few weeks ago and was strangely reminded of a german marionette TV-Show I watched frequently in my childhood. Although the strings of the puppets were clearly visible, you began to ignore them because the puppeteers did such a good job on creating and performing that the strings didn't really matter. With "Romeo must die" it is vice versa: Though Hollywood technicians did their best to remove the strings virtually from Jet Li's body, they become all too visible by the way he moves in the air. These might be also true for some of his Hong-Kong movies, but they were so fast-paced and entertaining that you didn't bother at all. But "Romeo must die" can't provide these qualities, and although the producers added three computer-generated x-ray images (of which the first one looks plausible and the third unbelievable and laughable) it doesn't save this altogether uneven and boring film. Save your money and stick to Jet Li's Hong-Kong features.