When terrorists rob a bank all hell is let loose. With a friend of the family having recently gotten online at last,I was shown a few days ago some DVDs that he has brought online.<br/><br/>Very kindly,that I could borrow some of the films from him to watch,So I decided to pick the most recent one of his DVD's that had turned up. Whilst the film does look pretty batted, (dirt and lines appear on the only print of the film that has come out on DVD)it is still a very watchable bank- robbery/hostage thriller. <br/><br/>The plot:<br/><br/>After having gotten their friend (Heinz Klett) out of court,three friends decided that they are going to rob a bank for half a million,so that they can leave the country with a huge amount of cash,which they can use part of to start up there own supermarket.<br/><br/>With one of the robbers using his girlfriend to make a fake phone call to the police,to tell them that the robbers are holding lots of kids hostage,it appears that although it will be a bit tough getting out,the bank robbery should go successfully enough.Sadly,the robbers don't know is that since he has been held up in prison Hans has become a lot more merciless then they have ever been…<br/><br/>View on the film:<br/><br/>Looking at the cast,I feel that whilst most of them did very well at showing there increase in tension as the situation worsens,the clear stand out was Raimund Harnstorf as the lead homicidal-manic bank robber Heinz klett.<br/><br/>Along with having a fantastic red beard-and-strong-chin combo that Chuck Norris would give two thumbs up to,Harnstorf (who sadly committed suicide in May 1999 at age 57)also is excellent at showing Heinz ego over shadowing the group,as he becomes the dominant force in the bank robbery,with his violent actions,being performed with a real relish by Raimund.<br/><br/>Although the first half an hour of the film,is surprisingly a little slow paced,the very moment that the robbers enter the bank, writer/directer Rolf Olsen accelerates the film at a fantastic pace.<br/><br/>Whilst the robbery is entertainingly ruthless,especially when the gang start to fear that Heinz is not going to let anything,or anyone get in the way of him and the cash,the unexpectedly most gripping moments in the film,are the scenes which has one of the robbers and a cop trying to stop a small boy from pulling a grenade,thanks to Olsen doing an excellent job at showing the robber losing his focus,as he starts to suspect that things might not be going according to plan.<br/><br/>Final view on the film:<br/><br/>A neat hostage thriller,with a terrific performance from Raimund Harnstorf. "Whatever they can do in Italy, we can do better" they must have thought in Germany. Extremely violent crime thrillers were very popular in Italy during the early 70's and at least a dozen of awesome ones got released every year. "Bloody Friday" is more or less Germany's response to this successful trend and a damn perplexing one, I may add! When the heavy criminal Heinz Klett escapes police custody during his transport to court, he promptly executes his plans to commit the biggest bank robbery ever in the history of the country. He, his regular partner and his girlfriend's brother storm into the bank heavily armed and take 10 people hostage. While the police attempts to gather the $1.000.000 ransom, and entire media circus unfolds outside on the streets. You usually know pretty much exactly how this kind of movie develops. Things don't go according to plan, there's the Stockholm Syndrome and a couple of unplanned deaths along the way. Apparently the film is inspired by similar real-life events as they occurred in Germany. I don't know which parts of the film were fictionalized, but I seriously wonder if the real events ended in such a nauseating and shocking bloodbath as well. I hope not. Probably the greatest accomplishment here is the biting social satire. While the hostage is going on inside, the public outside shouts for the re-implementation of the death penalty and there are even are some sly businessmen that unscrupulously want to make money out of the gathered crowd. It's certainly also not a film for people with an easily upset stomach or tangled nerves. Heinz' escape is bloody already and there's massively shocking sequence involving a hand grenade at the beginning of the hold-up. "Bloody Friday" is well-directed (by the guy who did "Shocking Asia"), the acting performances are pretty great and everything else (music, editing, photography, atmosphere) is simply in-your-face brutal and confronting.
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295 weeks ago