Knockin' on Heaven's Door

This is easily one of the best films that I have seen in a long time and certainly the best of its modern gangster genre. The plot is maybe a touch formulaic but that fits well as the whole film pokes fun of many of the clichees that Hollywood pictures like Pulp Fiction take a little too seriously. Actually, I have heard many people compare it to Pulp Fiction, but the only real similarity I found is in its frenetic style and odd sense of humor. As for humor, the subtitles are well done, so you don't lose much in the translation.

After watching the movie for 11th time i decided to share what i think of it.

It is simply great. By great i mean the idea that is (supposedly) very deep inside. Perhaps it's about the ultimate goal, that everyone has and hasn't got time to fulfill it, and when the moment comes that makes one understand 'now is the right time'. Sometimes it's too late, sometimes one never understands it is time to change something, but for those two, life was a success. Quoting matrix (kill me), it's the "free your mind" style, when all problems go away and you can do whatever you want to do. It's actually a very thrilling experience, and hope this movie can inspire someone to change something in the rhythm of life they're currently living. I like movies that make you think different of things, and this surely is one that does so.

The movie is great. Simply brilliant. Even if you try to retell the plot you'll miss the whole point, because this movie isn't about the chain of events - it's about the people, the characters, the life itself. There is not a single scene that falls out of the whole composition: even though the plot is not the key issue here, it still beautifully binds the whole story together, perfectly connecting all the dots. And have your tissues ready: no matter how many times I watch it I always cry at the end and I'm not usually very sentimental. As for my male friends who watched it with me several times they usually just stay very silent at the end. It is very emotional and overwhelming: both sad and somehow positive at the same time. I envy those who have not seen it and will watch it for the first time.

2 men who were sentenced to death by their doctors spent their precious remaining time together to experience something they never had chance to do before when they occasionally found a lot of money two stupid gangsters left.

This is a crazy comedy with good entertainment, and because we know the tragical end, so the highly contrast of the hilarious story really make me have a bittersweet feeling which is wonderful.

Their last wish is to see sea with their own eyes, a quite common wish but they never did before. We always think we have a lot of time to do things we want to do, but nobody knows what will happen tomorrow. We never have the courage to do something derailed from our normal track of life, and gradually lost the aim and fun of it, living numbly and waiting to the final destination.

The cast is good and I Love Til Schweiger so much, really a charming role! Moritz Bleibtreu is outstanding as one of the moron gangster too.

I rarely watch Germany comedic films, "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" is an exception even it might be too crazy for some people, still need a good recommendation.

"Knocking On Heaven's Door" has been a big German box office hit in the winter of 1996/97 and is still considered one of the best German movies of that decade next to the international success "Lola rennt". This is a breath-taking comedy about two losers (Til Schweiger and Jan-Josef Liefers) dying of cancer and getting anything they want during their last days on earth. They are robbing a bank and nicking a car containing a gangster's suitcase with a million marks in it. Of course the gangsters and the police hunting the guys who just want to reach the sea to die somewhere at the shore.

Although this road-movie story itself isn't very new and has been filmed many times in Hollywood movies, it stands on its own. The story has dozens of quotes and references from American movies and film genres, but it also knows how to add a local, German and European style to it. You see two henchmen, a Turk and a Belgian, dressed in black suits and with sunglasses like taken from a Tarantino film. You see Hannes Jaenicke dressed as a fatally-looking leather cop U.S.A. style, drinking Jaegermeister (a popular German spice liquor). You see popular fifties girlie actress Conny Froboess playing Til Schweiger's mum, an Elvis Presley adoring fan.

There are plenty of funny scenes in this movie, many witty dialogues, absurd situations and brilliant performances by all actors featuring Corinna Harfouch as a doctor, "Sexluder" Jenny Elvers as a nurse, Dutch movie stars Huub Stapel and Rutger Hauer as gangster bosses, Ralf Herforth as dumb police officer, etc. Schweiger and Liefers are giving the best performances of their career, adding pain, sadness and tragedy to the all-action-comedy style. The photography, editing and the surf-rock-like sound track by Selig are also outstanding. Take a look at this example of best German nineties cinema!!!