"I won't be accused of being a party pooper," loony cop, Christini (Tcheky Karyo), mutters to a transvestite before thrusting a grenade into a baby son's nap. Infants get a somewhat raw deal in this French film, as do mothers.
Tasteless and violent in the extreme, Dobermann is not for the loose-bowelled. It kicks-off with a gothic, vaguely ludicrous, scene where a Dobermann catapults a pistol into a baptised baby's pram. The baby grows up to be biggest baddest wolf of them all called you've guessed it Dobermann.
In 'adulthood', Mr Dobermann (Vincent Cassel, so camp as Anjou in Elizabeth) enlists the service of a deaf psycho, Nat the Gypsy (Monica Belluci) and a gang of horrendous low-lifes called Mosquito, Pitbull and so on. They engage in a series of slapstick Sam Raimi-style violent robbery rampages, including depositing a grenade (yes, again) inside of a policeman's helmet. Their savagery is Natural Born Killers with a Bugs Bunny taste.
Kounen, whose previous credits include the fantastically trashy, Vibroboy, obviously revels in the unlimited, mindless brutality. He has said as much himself: "When I made Le Dernier Chaperon Rouge, I was dealing with a musical and all that goes with it Dobermann is a thriller, it's a real urban western. The rules are different. So I went for it, went all the way!"
Apparently, he wanted to achieve the same ill ease as Scorcese's masterpiece Goodfellas. Taken in this context, it is a little easier to cope with the general lack of humanity or good intentions (everyone, apart from one marginalised cop, is pretty much loathsome) in the film. The pleasure is in the gratuitous shoot 'em ups and in this respect Kounen stages the grossness quite impressively.
Comparisons with Tarantino will inevitably been drawn, but if anything Dobermann is more like British TV cop shows The Sweeney and The Professionals (the split screen robbery scene being a direct rip-off) of the 70s. The essential differences being that Dobermann is slicker, nastier and possesses some sly promotions for Trainspotting, a certain reassuringly expensive lager and even Amnesty International. Not The Sweeney's bag at all.
Ultimately, this is not a film to take at all seriously. Karyo's nutter makes Gary Oldman's cop in Leon look like a cuddly wee bear, who hardly hams it up at all. The totally unrealistic 'cowboy' gang is equally hammy, full of diarrhoea gags and splattered genitalia, and in all honesty are a bunch of vile clowns. You've been suitably warned.
Ben Walsh
Tasteless and violent in the extreme, Dobermann is not for the loose-bowelled. It kicks-off with a gothic, vaguely ludicrous, scene where a Dobermann catapults a pistol into a baptised baby's pram. The baby grows up to be biggest baddest wolf of them all called you've guessed it Dobermann.
In 'adulthood', Mr Dobermann (Vincent Cassel, so camp as Anjou in Elizabeth) enlists the service of a deaf psycho, Nat the Gypsy (Monica Belluci) and a gang of horrendous low-lifes called Mosquito, Pitbull and so on. They engage in a series of slapstick Sam Raimi-style violent robbery rampages, including depositing a grenade (yes, again) inside of a policeman's helmet. Their savagery is Natural Born Killers with a Bugs Bunny taste.
Kounen, whose previous credits include the fantastically trashy, Vibroboy, obviously revels in the unlimited, mindless brutality. He has said as much himself: "When I made Le Dernier Chaperon Rouge, I was dealing with a musical and all that goes with it Dobermann is a thriller, it's a real urban western. The rules are different. So I went for it, went all the way!"
Apparently, he wanted to achieve the same ill ease as Scorcese's masterpiece Goodfellas. Taken in this context, it is a little easier to cope with the general lack of humanity or good intentions (everyone, apart from one marginalised cop, is pretty much loathsome) in the film. The pleasure is in the gratuitous shoot 'em ups and in this respect Kounen stages the grossness quite impressively.
Comparisons with Tarantino will inevitably been drawn, but if anything Dobermann is more like British TV cop shows The Sweeney and The Professionals (the split screen robbery scene being a direct rip-off) of the 70s. The essential differences being that Dobermann is slicker, nastier and possesses some sly promotions for Trainspotting, a certain reassuringly expensive lager and even Amnesty International. Not The Sweeney's bag at all.
Ultimately, this is not a film to take at all seriously. Karyo's nutter makes Gary Oldman's cop in Leon look like a cuddly wee bear, who hardly hams it up at all. The totally unrealistic 'cowboy' gang is equally hammy, full of diarrhoea gags and splattered genitalia, and in all honesty are a bunch of vile clowns. You've been suitably warned.
Ben Walsh