Tattoo (2002)

You won't be disappointed!

the audience applauded

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

"Tattoo" is the first feature film from writer and director Robert Schwentke. When it came out in 2002, August Diehl was huge rising star in Germany. I actually like him, but as the film progressed, I felt it was really much more about the actor in the center of the movie then about a good story. I did not like the path they took with the tattoos and the story behind the murders. I wish it would just have been one single-acting sociopath who turns out as a ritual murderer.Apart from that, it has to be mentioned that Redl's and Diehl's character are almost equal at the beginning of the film, but it all switches much more towards Diehl. the way Redl's character was written out of the film was particularly disappointing with how much focus was on him early on. All we find out about his family history was just means to have Diehl's character meet his daughter later on. He turned from a lead into a completely pointless character in roughly 90 minutes. I found myself thinking that Diehl could be the killer or that Redl could be the killer during the film. I was wrong both times. With Redl as the killer, it may have been a mixture of "Training Day" and "Collateral". Anyway, things take a turn for the worse when that one guy kills himself with Diehl's weapon. That scene was maybe the most cringeworthy moment of the entire movie and I felt that they completely sacrificed a credible script for just random showy action scenes at this point. And the whole cop-witness attraction between Diehl's and Krebitz' characters was too cliché for my taste too. And finally, the transformation from a "weakling" almost into a badass cop from Diehl's character did not feel really credible either.The first half of the film is solid, the second half is considerably weaker. As a whole, I would not recommend this film. I wish they would have kept both protagonists in the center of the story. I quite like August Diehl as an actor, but that script was just too much centered around him. Also, the film lost a bit credibility when almost everybody is suddenly tattooed, like Krebitz' character or also Diehl at the very end.

The directorial debut of Schwentke is no-doubt a very well shot movie. It looks beautiful, ıts atmosphere is intriguing, the score and soundtrack is perfect match and the acting is above average.. whoever succeeds in shooting a movie that looks like this as a debut is deemed to be a very successful director. thats for sure.. His obssesion with reflections can be tiring from time to time but Schwentke handles this so delicately this trademark of his never feels repetitive..It is nearly impossible to think of someone who would not wonder about Schwentke's next project after watching Tattoo. So after so much praise lets come to the negatives. I will say only one thing: story.. It is full of nonsense. Minks a cop of years of experience on the streets can not locate his own daughter but the younger cop who is asked to help find her in a day.. and hey she was working as a bartender in a nightclub. But a 20 year veteran detective who seems to live to find his daughter can not locate her..? Actually I myself had difficulty in following the plot but the movie gives you the understanding that the police in Germany is really really incompetent--no offense to the Polizie it is just what the movie suggests..-- 12 deads, one dead detective and his daughter and still no one seems to care including the chief..? I think with a stronger screenplay this movie had the potential to be a classic especially with the direction of Schwentke.. A solid 7.5

Sleekly shot German serial killer movie gets by for most of its length on style and the original and creepy millieu of tattoo collectors--people who display stretched out skin on their walls like paintings. The problem is that an audience familiar with the serial killer genre will likely find Tattoo very predictable and the script takes a few annoying shortcuts. For instance, it's painfully obvious very early in the film who is likely behind the murders, but the police never even seem to consider this person a suspect in spite of the fact that she's an art dealer and knows a hell of a lot about tattoo art, which is not the normal area of expertise for gallery owners. If that's not suspicious enough she first turns up at the apartment of one of the victims shortly after the murder even though she claims not to have spoken to her former friend in years. Amazingly the police never treat her as a suspect or even bother to check out her story about the death of a famous tattoo artist in New York until the very end of the film. Tattoo borrows heavily from two much better serial killer movies--Seven and the Korean flick Tell Me Something, which managed to not telegraph its surprise ending in the first twenty minutes and not make its protagonist cop look like a complete idiot for failing to figure out who the real murderer was. Still, Tattoo is a watchable enough example of the genre if you're in the mood for a serial killer movie. Just don't expect too much.

I've seen Tattoo in a sneak preview and i think its pretty bad. The story has too many flaws and the dialogue is awful. If you like seeing dead bodies and other disturbing pictures without a good story behind, then go into this movie. But please dont compare this one to David Finchers Seven.