CASCADEUR-THE AMBER CHAMBER (German)
A review by Mark R. Leeper in bullet-list form
from the Toronto Internation Film Festival
CAPSULE: A decent adventure film with story line inspired by Indiana Jones and action inspired by Jackie Chan movies. Hardy Martins does his own impressive stunts but not much acting in a film that is diverting and lightweight. Rating: 6 (0 to 10), 1 (-4 to +4)
- Fast paced, well-produced little adventure film. Since it does not try to be much more than that, the real test is whether it is better than the action films that show up in their dozens on cable. It is of the same ilk, but this would stand out as being pretty good by comparison. - Solid action film with good pace and a little bit of humor. - "Cascadeur" means "stunt man." - Main character is a stuntman who has had an accident and is now living in the Black Forest collecting pine cones. Christin, an art student looking for the Amber Chamber teams with Martins. - The only reason it would not be seen in the US is that the characters are all German and the McGuffin everybody is looking for requires some understanding of German history from the viewer. The Ark of the Covenant is meaningful to everybody from a Jewish, Christian, or Islamic background. To care about the Amber Chamber (which is real, by the way) you have to know some German history. The Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm I gave it to Peter the Great in 1716. The Amber Chamber was kept in the imperial Catherine Palace outside St. Petersburg, then Leningrad, before being dismantled and removed by German troops in 1941. The chamber, last sighted in 1945, is an assembly of ornately carved amber wall panels and furniture. It is the most sought-after of the Russian treasures stolen by the Germans in the Second World War. - The plot seems more sado-masochistic than a similar American film would be. - Main actor, Hardy Martins, is not a very expressive actor. He looks like a taller Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@lucent.com
Copyright 1998 Mark R. Leeper
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