Children of Wax

First I have to say that I really love Udo Kier and have always had respect for Armand Assante but nothing could save this train wreck of a movie. Udo does not even appear till much later in the movie and the acting from Everyone is just terrible. The script is all over the place, the dialog is wooden, the "action" is laughable and the plot could be summed up on a dirty cocktail napkin. I really wanted to find something redeeming in this movie but found myself holding my hands over my eyes, shaking my head and repeating over and over to myself, "Oh Udo.....why???....Why?????..". If you are a fan of Udo or Armand, please don't watch this movie. It will only make you sad for them.

This film is a very descent remake of the famous Fritz Lang's masterpiece "M- Murder".It is well made and with a entertaining key to speak about pretty serious events and contemporary problems in Eurobe but not only the whole world.The ethnic intolerance is such a huge evil and very contagions nowadays. So "Children of Wax" or as it is known in US distribution reveals the question of German and Turk hatred in an amusing way.No doubt it is well appreciated to be taken for distribution by the great Weinsten brothers.And there is another fact I liked most is the participation in this movie of the favorite actor of Lars von Trier the great Udo Kier who shows to play with such a pleasure for the Bulgarian film director Ivan Nichev.

"Children of wax" also shown as "Killing grounds" is an interesting mixture of genres. Some might think the purity of the genre can be only for good but to me the eclectic symbioses is very entertaining. It is also in it's story the mixture of thriller and the popular action as well as the combination of the historic masterpiece and the ethnic plea for tolerance. This film is built with the starry presence of my favorite actor the perfect Armand Assante but it is also marked by the acting of a shooting star – Hal Ozan .We have recently seen him in the TV series on HBO called "Sex" . "Children of wax" is entertainment for the audience but the same time it has an everlasting moral for the ethnic tolerance. This is a wise way to seminate welfare. Discussion on the contemporary troubles of our days can be made with attractive means in this is very positive side of the film "Children of wax".

Well, it wasn't a complete waste. Armand was as usual very good in the movie,,,the whole turks vs German thing was kind of strange because I remember seeing Bulgaria at the beginning of the movie...dint' bother to go back and check...the central theme is about the serial killings with the whole gang warfare loosely woven in. Never saw a movie where the characters looked Italian, supposed to be Turk, taking English(American accent and euphemisms) with German words. The climax was the most intriguing part and there are parts of it that still did not make sense to me. In any case, if you have nothing else better to do, you can watch this movie..

In Kreuzberg, Berlin, the Turkish gangs of immigrants and the skinheads are permanently fighting against each other and drug trafficking. Meanwhile, a serial-killer is killing children in the neighborhood. The Turkish Commissary Kemal (Armand Assante) is transferred from Wiesbaden to Kreuzberg, where he was born, and assigned to investigate the murderers.

When the Turkish gang accuses the Neo Nazi gang of murdering the Turkish children, they schedule a war in a club. But the leader of the skinheads claims that his gang is not killing the children.

"Children of Wax" is an awful film with a lame and messy story and poor and amateurish acting. The characters are unpleasant, speaks in English with German and Turkish accent and the drug-dealer Murat is in the end the most charismatic character. The situations are absurd, like Greta shagging Hakan in the van; or the use of heavy weapons on the streets of Berlin without any consequence; or the boy Mustapha shooting and killing people. I laughed with the wooden face of Armand Assante when he learns that his son had been abducted by the serial-killer. Last but not the least, the scene of Murat judging the killer closes with golden key this ridiculous film. My vote is two.

Title (Brazil): "Crianças de Cera" ("Children of Wax")