Invincible (2002)

Beautiful, moving film.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

It's 1932. Zishe Breitbart is a Jewish blacksmith in Eastern Poland. He and his little brother Benjamin are attacked by racists at the restaurant. To pay for the damage, Zishe takes on the strongman at a traveling circus. Landwehr is impressed and recruits him to Berlin for Hanussen (Tim Roth) in his Palace of the Occult. The audience is mostly Nazis party members and Hanussen turns Zishe into an Aryan ideal.Werner Herzog picks interesting characters and subject matters to do films about. Sometimes it works really well. This one works somewhat. I really like Jouko Ahola. Despite his size, he has a gentle innocent demeanor. He is perfect for the role. Tim Roth is mercurial. The style of the movie lacks the needed tension. It's simply not exciting and the excessive running time of over two hours really drags out the story. Herzog needs a sharper editing style to pump up the excitement.

First of all, i have to state that i'm a big fan of Werner Herzog, I consider him to be one of the greatest and one of the most underrated directors of all time. But let's not waste the time with that and let's get back to the topic.INVINCIBLE is a drama based on the true story of Zishe Breitbart, a very strong blacksmith that is discoverd in a Poland village and ends up working for Erik Jan Hanussen (Tim Roth), a "mystic" man who is the leader of a cabaret variety show.First i have to tell you what didn't work with the movie and than continue with the things that worked. * The movie runs 133' (minutes) and yet it gives you a feeling that you haven't seen enough, it leaves you disappointed a bit, but no way you can blame the director... the whole problem stands with the writing... The Screenplay doesn't work, it doesn't center on anything concrete but it tries to include all this long story... starting with Breitbart's being discovered in "this" Poland village after he wrestles this "big dude" etc etc... then he moves in Berlin (after 25+ minutes) and then the interesting story begins... so by all means Herzog disappoints with this clumsy and not so dimensional screenplay... - Something else that didn't work and everyone can notice it, is the acting of Jouko Ahola who plays Zishe Breitbart... his acting is just "dull" and simply "bad", it's one of the factors that hurt the movie in general.On the other hand:*/* Hans Zimmer score is good, he is on his level and that serves as a strong element of the movie. +/+ Herzog as the director does a superb job, he does his magic and this serves as the strongest point of the movie, to let us carry on... +/+ Also i have to praise Tim Roth, who delivers a strong performance, even thou he's supporting. No wonder why he has worked with great directors such as Tarantino, Haneke, Wenders, Coppola, Allen etc etc.THE VERDICT 7/10 - with a better screenplay and someone else in the leading role these one could've been a real contender.

No director has more fascinating stories to tell than Werner Herzog. This one is about a Jewish blacksmith who finds his way from his village in Poland into a German propaganda show at a Berlin theatre which features a grim but locally beloved hypnotist, who claims he has seen into the future of Germany. The year is 1932, Hitler has yet to come to power.For about fifty minutes, Herzog is able to keep the viewer in his/her seat. He stages a very eccentric show which at times allows for audience participation. During a hypnotism scene, Herzog has chosen the camera angle to be a P.O.V. of the volunteer. Tim Roth faces the camera, and as he starts to work his magic, it is us the viewers who are being hypnotized. But while the show goes on, the spectacle disappears. Invincible looses direction and starts becoming draggy quite quickly. Tim Roth's character is presented to us with so much flair and presentation that we are led to believe that the story is heading more in his direction, but it doesn't. Invincible might have worked better if the movie was about him. The last section of the film is clunky and overlong, and it feels like another movie. When looked at in its entirety, Invincible is almost a docu/drama. Some parts are very interesting but, it lacks important cinematic ingredients; the most important of which is structure.Invincible could use a major reworking. It is clumsy in direction, unable to generate much emotion, and does not have much to say. This is NOT one of Herzog's more impressive works

Let me first state that I ended up enjoying this movie more than I thought I would. Also, Tim Roth's acting simply makes this movie. The strongman's acting actually improves as the movie goes on but is still mediocre at best. This is probably no fault of his, but his inexperience is really obvious when acting besides Roth. The proto-Nazis are easy to hate, which is fine by me, but again, the best scenes are the stage scenes with Rothman--he really sells the spiritualism angle of the movie. His discovery of being a Jew near the end of the movie is not fact-based, apparently, it was not a well-kept secret, but it moves the movie along, and makes Hannussen seem like a hypocrite of the first order.