Change Your Image
helle_178
Reviews
Agent 009 3/4 2: Historien om dræberrobotten (1994)
Forgotten classic
I found this film hidden on the back shelf of my local video rental store. I had never heard of it but I got it anyway. We were having a girl's night in and we watched a few films. We watched 'Fried Green Tomatoes' and 'The Piano' and then we watched this movie. We really liked it. It's a low-budget film, but the acting is incredibly strong. We were impressed by Louise Albrechtsen's short cameo as the injured police woman. Whatever became of her? There are a few memorable monologues, one of the finest being Colonel Schnell's in the beginning of the film. A different man after 10 long years of imprisonment, his soliloquiy seeps out of the screen and into our hearts. But, certainly the greatest sequence is the injury, physical as well as psychological, to the agent (Jens Horstmann, in a stellar performance). In this scene, the agent is shot in the arm after a long and fateful battle. His following descent into hallucinations and madness are allegorical to his fall from glory, from being the greatest agent who ever lived to being simply mediocre. In the scene, which incidentally is completely without dialogue, Horstmann manages to convey the crumbling of his soul in such a convincing manner that no eyes are dry. The fact that there is no music, and the only sound is the agent's breathing for such a long scene, is proof of Horstmann's incredible acting skills.
I have since watched Agent 009 3/4, the prequel to this film. That film has a little more interesting plot but less of the human pathos. But the first movie is a little better than this one, simply because the simplicity of the story conforms better to the budget it was produced under. The sequel, this film, sadly tries to incorporate some satiric action elements, which exposes the low budget of the film. That said, this film is certainly one to look out for.
Agent 009 3/4 (1993)
Excellent independent production
This film was shot on a small budget, but it still manages to convey a big story. The premise is simple: Two petty criminals, Banke-Bertel and Roever-Rasmus, commit a bank robbery. Their crime is investigated by the brilliant, hot-shot agent, who slowly but surely makes it his goal in life to prevent the two from continuing. Because the two robbers are contacted by a rather psychotic scientist (col. Schnell) who convince them that their talents can be put to a lot more James-Bond-villain-type things. So the agent's goal becomes a lot harder to achieve...
This sounds like a very trite and banale movie. But where it shines is in its character portrayals, its humour and its powerful social commentary. The premise itself is little else than a satire, and the film sometimes smacks of the early blaxploitation-films from the 70's. But beyond the facade, there is a rumbling, a repressed geyser of cracked personalities bursting to get out.
There are no 'good' or 'bad' in the film, no 'right' or 'wrong'. Nothing is what it seems to be. The agent at first appears to be infallible, but falls victim to his own vanity and confidence (I will not tell you how, in case you haven't seen the movie). The robbers, it turns out, were fooled, and we sympathise with them. One of them, Rasmus, starts behaving irrationally without reason and still seems the sanest of the lot. The crazed colonel is sometimes the most trustworthy of them all. The dialogue is also often dualistic and vague, so you are never quite sure about what is really the truth, and whos goals are the truest.
An excellent film. If you find a copy lying around somewhere, rent it! And rent the sequel too. You won't regret it. For powerful, entertaining cinema, it's hard to beat Agent 009 3/4.