Dobermann (1997)

Really Surprised!

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

I didn't find much about this movie I like. This is clearly style over substance. It draws it's inspiration from "Natural Born Killers" and "From Dusk till Dawn" much too clearly. The violent couple, the showdown in a hellish club, the over-the-top violence of course, the characters (gung-ho priest included? Check! The cop who's worse than Satan himself? Check!),... It wouldn't annoy me that much, if it weren't done so half-heartedly. The characters are so 1 dimensional it's not even funny anymore. I just couldn't give a damn about ANY of the characters on screen. Most notably: Inspector Christini, the "bad-ass cop". His behavior by the end of the movie is totally out of line and completely unbelievable. The acting is plain awful. It's meant to be cool, but ended up to be just silly and stupid. In one particularly cringe-worthy scene, one of the baddies watches some TV with scenes of a lion killing a zebra - horrendous overacting ensues. Dialogue? Umm... Let's just leave it at that, OK? To sum it up: Dobermann is pretty much a fashion victim of 90s film-making. It contains all the stereotype characters and clichés you'd expect from that era of film-making without adding anything original. And the worst part of it? It's absolutely predictable and therefore boring as heck. 2 eye-candy points for Monica Bellucci, 1 point for a very nasty fart joke, 1 point for effort and 1 because I would have loved it, if I was still 13.

For fans of extreme cinema, Dobermann is almost a must-a good blend of violence, style, and craziness with a thumping soundtrack and over-the-top acting and set-pieces. It lacks the edge that other 'extreme' movies have, and is devoid of any compassion, but on the other hand does not go far enough to disturb the audience. A good cast does well, particularly Cassell and Karyo as the respective robber and cop, but at times the mashing together of genres does not work completely.Cassell stars as Dobermann, a man with a penchant for violence ever since his birth. He is the boss of a notorious gang of misfit robbers who have been preying on Paris for years. His nemesis is Cristini, a cop whose sadistic nature means he abuses his power and position and will stop at nothing to catch Dobermann and his mates. After a large heist with suitably insane weaponry, Dobermann has plenty of money, but Critini is getting closer, and eventually they meet and have a long chase. The plot may not be original, but it is always interesting, violent, and well worth watching.There are plenty of outstanding scenes here amidst the wackiness- the grenade inside a motorcyclists helmet while riding, the grenade in a baby's pram, the head being scraped along the road at 90 mph etc. It tries hard to be cool and stylish, and mostly it works, just a pity there is a lack of substance which would have made it a classic of the genre.7 out of 10

Dobermann from 1997 is a quite destructive movie, which to mewas kind of a drag to watch at times, but still fascinating.Lots of the humour that I think the movie aimed to have kind ofdrowned in its pretty dark, violent and almost depressiveatmosphere. Vincent Cassell was good in this, and fans of the gorgeousMonica Belluci probably won't be disappointed either. It quite reminded me of Gaspar Nóe's "Irreversible". Dark andawful, but more diguised as a cartoonhero movie. Just thatDobermann had no actual superpowers. I know the movie wasn't aired here in Norway due to its graphicnature, and I can understand that. Try it if you like French cinema and just can't get enough ofTarantino.

Having seen Vincent Cassel's previous films (Brotherhood of the Wolf, Irreversible, La Haine), i wasn't sure what i'd expect from this. Low and behold His performance as Yann was great. A great story with nice action blended in. Jan Kounen had great direction with this film. I admire his work now after watching this. Hopefully Blueberry will come here in the states soon, as i am waiting anxiously for it. But back to Dobermann. The opening church scene was a good way to establish Yann's roots as an anti-hero . From the bank heist to the Jo Hell Club gunfight, the intensity of the movie never dropped. Akin to Tarantino-style films, its no wonder i enjoyed it. Kudos to the Kounen/Cassel partnership as it yields great results.