The Robber (2010)

That was an excellent one.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The movie provided me with a change of scenery but not much else. The story is of a marathon runner/bank robber who while out on parole goes back to his old tricks.The film is slow moving I guess that is called minimalist...little dialogue and frankly somewhat grey and boring like winter in Vienna until he kills his parole officer and a chase ensues (there is one other chase in a bank robbery which helped too spark some interest too).Otherwise boring.Cinematography and acting are up to par it is the story or script that lags...not in an annoying way but in a boring way.....anyway after much thought I give it a 5. Crack a whip over some writers and add some fiction as other reviewers suggested and it could have been a lot better.Don't really recommend

A story about a botched life - interesting and (loosely) based on the life of robber, murderer and distance-runner J. Kastenberger, better known as "pumpgun Ronnie" (because he used a Reagan-mask for some of his robberies). The running sequences are good; I'm a distance runner myself and they did a nice job portraying it, the actor (Andreas Lust) had to do a lot of running for these and the flight sequences! On the DVD/BD, watch the extras about how they shot the Vienna City Marathon scenes during the actual event - even many spectators were fooled! Plus, there's a lot of outdoor scenes on many different locations; you have to wonder how they managed so many takes in just (I believe) 40 days of shooting. As a consequence, light isn't always perfect, but the film definitely has a very realistic look. While interesting to watch, it's difficult to relate to this very quiet and coldblooded man. The girlfriend is, of course, made-up for the story, in reality the robbers contacts to women were restricted to prostitutes (yes, he did spend some of that money). Maybe the film would be more involving if it were nearer to the real-life robber who seems to have been a pretty choleric type, sometimes committing murder just out of a sudden rage. As it is, you're not touched by this film.

Most fans of Hollywood movies will probably not like this film because it doesn't contain massive explosions or a bombastic soundtrack (in fact it practically has none) but this stunner (based on the story of a real life bank robber) is one of the great thrillers of the decade. A sleek, sparse study of existentialism, THE ROBBER is a must see.It begins rather abruptly, the first scene is a man named Johann (superbly played by Andreas Lust) running in what seems like a training center, but as soon as the camera pans back we realize he is in a prison and is about to be released after serving a 6 year sentence. As the story unfolds Johann is set free where he begins to win marathons but leads a double life as he returns to his old habits of stealing cars and then using them as getaway vehicles for his bank robberies.As with European cinema, much of the pacing and characters are understated, there are times when nobody says anything but from the background noises and the looks on their faces you can clearly tell what they are thinking. Even though the few people he knows (his former girlfriend, his parole officer) deeply cares for him and pulls strings to get him to live a normal life it's clear that he does not want any of it. Johann just wants to rob banks and run because that is all he is. The whole movie takes place in Austria, the land of Heidi and Vienna coffee houses but with the movie being portrayed through Johann's eyes, Austria seems bleak, detached and robotic to make it look almost unbearable to be living in; while there are other characters in the story, they seem to be nothing more than minor twinkles in Johann's eye- he does not care for them and it almost seems like they are ghosts to him.There were some professional critics that lambasted this movie for not revealing Johann's motivation on why he is what he is. But what they don't understand is that it really doesn't matter. Some people do things because it's the one thing (or two in Johann's case) that gives them meaning- everything else is of no consequence. I find the main protagonist/antagonist of this movie to be a combination of Johnny Depp's John Dillinger in PUBLIC ENEMIES and Barry Newman's Kowalski in VANISHING POINT. They exist only to do the one thing that matters to them and that's it.

Johann Kastenberger (Andreas Lust), real life bank robber, would have been considered just another thief but for his second interest -- marathon running. He was still an interesting conundrum as a bank robber, though, in that he never spent any of his ill gained cash. He couldn't put it in a bank, not even a Swiss one, for fear of detection. He couldn't get it out of the country. He didn't seem to want to buy anything anyway. So, it just stayed in a bag under his bed -- not really the best plan for hiding money. We never really find out why he had this compulsion to rob banks, and in the process steal getaway cars. He just did it, and it didn't even seem to make him happy. There was nothing about Johann that expressed happiness, not even his relationship with his girlfriend, Erika (Franzeska Weisz). But what made him a biopic worthy character was his other compulsion -- to run. He was a champion marathon runner who while even in prison, maintained his training regime running circles in the yard and using his own treadmill in his tiny prison cell. When asked by a prison official how his life would change when he got out, he said, 'I won't have to run in circles anymore.' This review is continued at exm.nr/BonnisSteiger . Thanks.