bjoern_peters Reviews

Slagskämpen (1984)

Agent Thriller without the thrill

[14 July 2002]

After the first 20 minutes of the movie I feared I had bought a cheap soft sex movie in which somehow, mysteriously Dennis Hopper and Hardy Krüger appeared.

After the first half hour it became clear that "The Inside Man" is just a normal Thriller (although lacking any thrill) with outstandingly lousy acting. Even Hopper and Krüger don't look any better than anybody in a school play.

Although this is a Swedish movie, the film is done in English. But the accents of all the actors are way too strong to make this an advantage. Of course Dennis Hopper has his American accent and Hardy Krüger is speaking with a strong German accent. This is the only movie I've ever seen which works better in the dubbed version!

none out of ***** Stars!

AVOID AT ALL COSTS!

Murder by Numbers (2002)

A lot like a good Columbo Episode, but would you go to the Movies to see Columbo?

[1 July 2002]

Watching 'Murder by Numbers' I kept waiting for the moment that would justify why this movie was made for Theaters and not as a Television production. It never came.

Let me get this right, I had a really good time watching this movie. There have been many movies in which the viewer would know from the beginning how a murder or another crime was conducted. Not many of them managed to make it interesting to see how the investigators collected all the clues and tried to figure out who did it (-> Columbo!).

There is one thing that all the movies which succeeded at this had in common: The totally concentrated on the investigation and at max a very minor subplots (again: Columbo's car for example) to loosen things up.

Murder by Numbers didn't do that! In fact there are almost as many subplots, as there are in a whole season of any soap opera on screen today. There's the new Partner, there's the 'dark' past of one of the investigators, there's the two investigators having trouble with the DA, there's the sexual tension between Cassie and Ben Chaplin's character, there's the whole criminal investigation technique challenge, there's the struggle between the two partners in crime, there's....

I could go on a whole page with all those subplots.

It seemed amazing that Barbet Schroeder managed to keep all those loose ends of the story together, at least as good as the weird format allowed for. Even more amazing was how I still enjoyed this movie. I think this is because of the really good cast. Most reviewers especially praised Gosling's and Pitt's performance, and I totally agree with that. But the other two main characters were portrayed just as well by Bullock and Chaplin.

Sandra Bullock still seems to want to prove something which has already become an acknowledged fact: She can successfully act outside a comedic/romantic movie! But she still seems to think she needs to get more serious, to prove something. As long as her performance stays on the same high level as it is in Murder by Numbers it will be all right with me.

After all MBN is a good movie, though it will be just as much joy seeing it as a DVD in 6 Months, as it was seeing it at the movies. The time is well spend watching it. Recommended to Thriller/Suspense fans who won't miss the not existing action in this movie.

**** out of *****