Desaster (2015) Reviews

• When Germany tries Tarantino

  Horst_In_Translation2017-03-21

  "Desaster" is a German(-language) movie from 2015, so still relatively fresh. It is one of the really rare efforts by writer and director Justus von Dohnányi as the man in charge of the script and behind the camera, actually his most recent. He is of course a very successful and prolific actor. But I must say this movie that runs for slightly under 1.5 hours was not a success at all. Looking at the cast members, I am not too surprised that von Dohnányi got a couple big names in here as he is simply a household name and he also acts himself in here, but if we are honest than there is no denying that the likes of Liefers, Looks, Peschel, Kurt and Winkler have also acted in many films where it is still really generous to call them mediocre and that's why the cast should not really make anybody think that this would be a good or even great movie. This is a mix of crime and comedy. As the film is about hit men and people dying all the time, there are some serious moments in here as well, but honestly JvD went pretty much exclusively for the comedic approach here. Basically you could say this film is a Tarantino film in terms of the action and comedy, only that it is a very very poor man's version unfortunately. The dialogues ("bitten by a monkey" just one example) are not half as smart and entertaining as they aspire to be. And the general plot idea oozes mediocrity and there is just nothing memorable at all about it. The characters may seem bold initially, but eventually they all have a turn for the gimmicky side and it all feels a bit for the sake of it. I never had the impression I was watching authentic people in here and this is one of several negative deal breakers that keep this film from being a good viewing experience. So I guess overall, von Dohnányi should maybe stick to acting. Then again i am probably a bit biased here as I never saw much talent in Liefers and he is maybe the one with the most screen time in here. Germany really struggles with comedy films these days sadly and here we have another exhibit for that. Watch something else instead.

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• disastrous in almost every sense

  tinapalme2016-06-26

  I didn't know what to do with this from the very beginning. The trailer sounded fun. The movie itself was incredibly random. Stupid cuts, flat dialogues and cliché characters. Even the soundtrack was bad. The only positive thing I have to say about all of this is that Jan Josef-Liefers gave a pretty good performance (in comparison to the rest of the actors) and he with his incompetent sidekick made for some funny scenes and dialogues. That's it. It didn't entertain me as much as it left me confused and at sometimes rather disturbed. The different story lines didn't come together, although I suppose that with some tweaks in the screenplay it could have been something at least.

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• Not a disaster ...

  kosmasp2015-12-27

  Though not a masterpiece either. Although the "Disaster" in the title has more to do with what's happening all the time, while the movie is running. It's like "best laid plans ...". You know how it goes. Though you may not exactly know how this will turn out from start to finish, the title itself is a giveaway. Still there is some fun to be had, during its running time and the actors are having a blast playing their respective characters. Not a lot of brains involved even if every single character actually think they are the smartest of them all (shame there was no mirror to tell them truth). In the end this is a decent effort in dark humor/thriller category, which you may or may not like

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