The Good German
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Movie Reviews of The Good German
Movie Review: "In the End, No One Was Exempt"
Summary: 3 Stars
(2 1/2 *'s) It's no surprise after the success of `Good Night and Good Luck,' George Clooney and Steven Sodenheim would team up to create another vintage historical drama of great import. Unfortunately, despite being filmed in stunning black and white and recorded with an authentically old-fashioned score, the movie threads together monumental history and a detective tale in a way that isn't as cohesive or focused as the former triumph. There are solid moments to be sure: Clooney plays U.S. army correspondent, Jake Geismer (Clooney), relocating to Germany to seek normalcy and find Lena (Cate Blanchett) an old flame. In the midst of the drama are stunning newsreels of Potsdam as both Superpowers seek German war rocket scientist, Franz Bettman (David Willis), a human focal point demonstrating the emerging Cold War. Impressively, they give us a feel for Europe (particularly Berlin) as it's being divied up between the power brokers.
The story starts solidly enough with an army driver, Patrick Tully (performed with punk kid-toughness by Tobey McGuire) who picks up Jake and quickly makes a connection with Lena, whom Tully keeps like a pimp possession. From there Jake connects the dots in his investigation that brings him more and more mystery than he originally bargained for. Some of the film's best moments come when they pause to reflect on the aftermath of the war and it's ramifications for psychological casualties in the film's present (July, 1945) and their future. (A poignant reminder comes into play when one camera store owner is shown strapped to a rolling dolly because he lost his legs in The War.)
Some of the tough, private eye maneuvering by Clooney and (especially) a fine performance by the versatile Blanchett, we get the goods, even if at times the mixture doesn't always translate into the sort of urgency we'd expect from such important material. Kudos for the authenticity, though. If there weren't expletives in the movie, I'd have sworn I was watching a flick from the forties. Clooney's no Humphrey Bogart, and Blanchett is (almost) no Ingrid Bergman, but with a few tense scenes and some big ideas, they almost pull it off.
Movie Review: An Exercise in Style
Summary: 3 Stars
At a recent preview screening, Mr. Soderbergh got up to introduce the film and talked about wanting to recreate the feel of a 1940s Warner Bros. movie as directed by Michael Curtiz (it was double-featured with Casablanca)--but with a modern freedom to depict strong language, sexuality and extreme situations. This made me start worrying even before the movie began: sometimes those limitations work to a filmmaker's advantage, forcing creative solutions by which to still get the story told. In the end, I felt that Soderbergh's fascination with the style of those 1940s films had overwhelmed his storytelling skills, because none of what I saw really felt all that important.
Now don't get me wrong--I admire the fact that Soderbergh keeps trying new things, that he's constantly reaching and stretching, trying to grow artistically in every direction. That's a big part of why I think he's one of our best filmmakers right now; but it's axiomatic that every once in a while, one of his experiments won't work ("Bubble," anyone?). Because the danger is that sometimes the work will feel as if it was for Soderbergh's benefit more than his audience's, and I'm afraid that that's what happened here.
Cate Blanchett (who was born to be photographed in black-and-white) gives a great performance, but her final revelation wasn't quite as awful as I'd thought it would be, which made the whole thing feel underwhelming. George Clooney is the new William Holden, and that's a good thing, but he and Blanchett needed a better story, better told, to work with, and they just didn't get it. A real disappointment: lots of craft, but not much heart. Or rather, it seemed that all the heart got poured into the craft, not into the storytelling. Too bad; it's a Soderbergh film, and I had gone in with high expectations.
Movie Review: Toby is a Womanizing Stud and George is a Wimp....give me a break!!
Summary: 3 Stars
This movie had some positive features, but for me the negatives interfered with my overall enjoyment.
Positive: Cate Blanchett was wonderful. She could read the Tel Aviv phone book and bring tears to your eyes. Unfortunately, at times the Tel Aviv phone book might have provided her with better dialog than did the script for this movie. Positive: The black and white photography superbly captures the look and feel of a 1940's noir drama, with nods to Casablanca and The Third Man. Overall, the cinematography was probably the single most impressive "character" in the whole production.
Now for the negatives: The casting was silly. Toby Maguire was selected to play the womanizing, butt-kicking, black market racketeer-tough guy. That's right folks, Toby Maguire. Give me a break....were they simply looking for a recognizable actor, without regard for the fact he was completely unsuited for and never (for a second) believable in this role? Then to make matters worse, they cast George Cloony as the wimpy "good guy" who gets his butt kicked in virtually every scene...including once by Toby!!! They must have had George standing in a hole and Toby on a crate for that one. It was unconvincing to the point of being laughable. I can see George as a good guy....but never a wimp.
Another negative for me was the agonizingly slow pace of the story. You could take a short nap and not miss a lot. In fact, I think parts of this movie might be a suitable substitute for Ambien.
In conclusion: Watch it (if you must) for the wonderful cinematography, but be prepared for the preposterous casting and the lethargic pace. It has the look of a great movie....without the substance.
Movie Review: BLANCHETT'S SULTRY, DANGEROUSLY MYSTERIOUS PERSONA STEALS THE SHOW
Summary: 3 Stars
It was a bit of a shock at first to see Batman (George Clonney) and Spider Man (Tobey McQuire) together in the opening scenes of THE GOOD GERMAN. Especially seeing Spider Man. But that went away quickly with Maquire's tough, black-marketing Corporal Tully erasing memories of his sweet Spidey role. Despite the action-hero star presence of Clooney and Maguire, Cate Blanchette turns out to be the real star of this blank and white post WW II noir film, her sultry, dangerously mysterious persona stealing the show. The camera seems to linger on her like a love sick teenager. The plot is about Americans and Russians trying to locate a German scientist and people getting killed or betrayed. But I found myself drifting away from the details of the plot twists and focusing instead on the atmospherics of post-war Berlin with rubble still in the streets and women selling themselves to survive. That and the characters portrayed by Blanchett and Clooney, who this time out finds himself in a subdued role without a script to emphasise his gift of humor or his glamour. In fact, in the harsh black and white photography, Clooney looks older and haggard while Blanchett becomes even more beautiful. The GOOD GERMAN takes its time and goes mostly nowhere but you will enjoy being there with Cate. Director Steven Soderbergh is intent on giving us a moody film with lots of shadows and dramatic lighting and cinematic posturing to classic black and white movies like CASABLANCA. In THE GOOD GERMAN you can see similarities to SOLARIS, another film directed by Soderbergh. Both are fine, quiet, psychological studies with more mood than action.Movie Review: "...the good old days when you could tell who the bad guy was by who was shooting at you."
Summary: 3 Stars
Captain Jake Geismer (George Clooney) returns to Berlin after WWII to find that things are very different than he remembered them to be. He learns that his driver, a good-old boy from America (Tobey McGuire), is sleeping with the girl he fell in love with, Lena (Cate Blanchett). Lena was married to an important man affiliated with the Nazis, and although everyone knows he is dead, the government is looking for him. Geismer knows that there is more to the story than he is being told, so he begins to look into things on his own time, which puts him in harm's way.
The mystery is too political. Audiences either need some prior knowledge of the trials in Germany or interest in politics to follow the twists and turns that the film takes.
Director Steven Soderbergh tried admirably to recreate the classic film noir feel for this movie. His use of wipe transitions, jarring camera angles, stark black and white, fast close ups, voice overs, newsreels, cigarette smoking, and expressive background music all revive the era nicely, but the film still screams modern Hollywood. Perhaps it is the language, the sex, or the more graphic violence. It could have benefitted from faster editing as well.
The characters are interesting enough, although the men do not fit the bill for noir heroes. McGuire is too sweet despite trying hard to appear tough. Clooney somehow doesn't gel either, though his controlled demeanor is consistent. The only appropriate casting choice was in Blanchett whose femme fatal is a mix of Marlene Dietrich in A Foreign Affair and Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice.