Lautlos

This is a very interesting perspective of action movies in other countries.No thoughtless Hollywood action flick here. This one is very well done. No overblown special effects, shootouts, chases. Very very realistic. NO cheesy one-liners or nonsense swearing. This one has normal colors and tones that make it seem real. Excellent acting from the actor who plays Felix. Also, the music adds a soft touch and expands the characteristics and the moods throughout the movie. It takes out the overblown action music and replaces it with a soft beat that adds in the suspense. Excellent movie! Additionally, good movie for anyone who would like to expand their German, like me!Actually understood most of the words without reading subtitles... 8/10

Lautlos is a movie from Tom Tykwer's film company, and you can see his influence as a producer in the sometimes dreamlike, introvert sequences. The film is about a serial killer who finds love and subsequently plans to quit his old underground life. Joachim Król plays the silent hitman very well, he gives a hint of broken softness to the character so that it's easy to like him. The plot is also exciting enough to keep your attention, with the right balance between action and character development. The only big problem about this movie are the dialogues. They are deliberately artificial but in such an exaggerated way that they just spoil the whole thing. Still, with the Król-bonus, it's a 7 out of 10 for me.

I think I have to disagree with the first poster, who said he this movie could have been great if the dialogue had been better.

In my opinion the absolute minimum use of dialogue between the two main characters in this picture, and for Lautlos 'picture' is more true than usual, is one of its most interesting aspects.

The emotions & thought of these two people are intensely displayed by a great combination of camera-work and acting. When the word are spoken the atmosphere already has the viewer closely connected with these two characters. I found myself thinking what the characters themselves realized only seconds later and stated in a very minimalistic way.

Just a beautiful film...

LAUTLOS (Soundless) is yet another film by Director/writer Mennan Yapo (with writing assists form Lars-Olaf Beier) that takes on a story of a hit man on his last job and makes it into a fine psychological thriller. The cinematography, lighting, music and pacing of this strangely dark film provide an excellent background for a superb cast of actors.

Viktor (Joachim Król) is an aging hit man, a perfectionist whose reputation as a genius killer includes the fact that he works so well that he is soundless in his paid executions. We are privy to his mind's working as he focuses on his last hit, a man with a lady in his room Nina (the very beautiful Nadja Uhl) whose life he spares in the hit, an act of emotional response to the beautiful woman but an act that causes his employer to set a mark on him for his failure. Viktor saves Nina from suicide and the two become enchanted with each other. Viktor has found love at the end of his career as a murderer: Nina wants to get to know Viktor better before committing to his advances. Enter the police headed by the brilliant Lang (Christian Berkel) who is determined to capture Viktor by studying his patterns and mind tracings. Viktor and Nina are on the run but with a goal - that they will join at the sea and leave the life of crime. But before this can happen they must go through a literal wall of flames (a touch of Wagner, here). How the cat and mouse chase comes into play and resolves is the satisfying end to this polished little thriller.

Król, Uhl, and Berkel (in addition to a fine supporting cast) make this tense drama intimate and penetrating and Yapo's direction keeps the pace breathless. This is a fine little thriller in German with English subtitles. Grady Harp

The anti-hero of this dark and moody thriller is Viktor (Joachim Krol), a professional hit-man – and a very successful one at that. Maybe that's one reason he's called Viktor?

In this story, however, he's just completed a fairly standard hit and is now called upon to perform his finale – his most important hit for his mentor and paymaster, Martin Hinrich (Peter Fitz) – and that's when Viktor's life as a killer starts to unravel. Wouldn't you just know it?

But, it all comes apart in a most unexpected fashion. For example, when was the last time you saw a film where a hit-man saves the same person's life twice? In two days? Well, you guessed it: cherchez la femme! That fairly standard hit wasn't so normal, after all: Viktor was so smitten by the blonde, Nina (Nadja Uhl), in the bedroom of the guy he just popped on the patio that he lets her sleep on, instead of eliminating her as a witness!

Now, that could've been a big mistake, but the writer/director (Mennan Yapo)of this interesting romp turns that to Viktor's advantage after he saves her from drowning the next day: she's so distraught by the death of her one-night stand that she throws herself off a bridge. Viktor, who'd followed her, drags her out and calls for medical help – then fades into the background...

Because he has that final job to do for Martin, so he must leave romance aside until the job's done – or so he thinks. Trouble is, one smart copper, Lang (Christian Berkel) is hot on Viktor's trail. How? Well, he's very smart: he uses deductive logic, forensic evidence and large data banks – and maybe some je ne sais quoi - to hone in on the most likely suspects. Not as well done as Sherlock Holmes, perhaps, but still impressive. And, maybe just a little too easy for narrative purposes.

Meanwhile Viktor stays one step (or maybe two steps) ahead of Lang as he plans his hit on the target Martin wants dead; and it's no easy job, not this time. Compounding the scenario also is Viktor's inability to forget about Nina, whom he visits at her apartment and, well, eventually, the sparks fly as you might expect. He's falling for her, and it seems that Nina shares the feeling, although she still has doubts...

Which she wants to dispel by following Viktor as he leaves her apartment to do the job – the final hit.

What follows then is a very classy and richly ironic action sequence worthy of some of the best thrillers you're likely to see, and no more ridiculous than most. That part alone is worth seeing.

It's well produced, the acting is up to the task – with Krol the consummate taciturn loner, and making Matt Damon as Jason Bourne of the Bourne franchise look positively garrulous – the photography has enough action sequences, from long shot to extreme close-up, to satisfy most, and the music is, well, almost not even there. But, when it is there, you notice it; and it fits.

The film and story are nowhere near the prowess of Luc Besson, the late John Frankenheimer, Martin Scorsese and others. But, hey, all writer/directors start somewhere and this being Yapo's second effort, I'll make sure I see future efforts.