Der Clown

Who the heck visits a movie spin-off of a German trash TV-Series and doesn't know what to expect? This film was great: funny lines, great stunts, simple story. It delivered exactly, what I needed! In fact, it was like a double feature of the show with more budget. Well, the director seems to be a little bit "over-talented", but in the end, it was a great fun to watch this movie. The acting was OK, the only downside was the replacement of Diana Frank as Claudia Diel. The movie would have worked the same way with the original team and I'm not sure, why they replaced her with Eva Habermann. Maybe it was because off age or money, I don't know.

I don't know which film the writers of the other comments have seen, but I enjoyed the movie "Der Clown". You should not forget that this is an action film and this genre is not defined by a complex story or portraits of characters. An action film must contain action and there is a lot of it in "Der Clown". There are many difficult stunts, e.g. with a helicopter. Only very few people can fly a helicopter as it is shown in the film! Almost every big object explodes, not only cars ... The split screens are not silly, but a very interesting feature. They increase the speed of the film. There are quick changes between the different places of action. It fits very good to the genre of action films. Silly is in my opinion the discussion about the other technical stuff (video, red colour). I watch films because of their content and not as technician. I also appreciate the way in which the background of the story is shown. The Clown remembers how his former girl friend was killed by a gangster - a scene which he will never forget. During this flashback you can hear the song "Kein Weg zurück" (No way back) of the band Wolfsheim - a good combination of content and music! So, I can say that it is a good film which was made by professionals who knew very well what they did!

First off, I haven't seen the TV series about the same main character.

I know there is an audience for movies like this. But I tend to expect at least a small storyline that is been followed in the film. After watching "Der Clown" I am not sure what story was told there.

All I can recall is this: A guy, formerly a member of some sort of special forces, dropped out of that unit. Now he is free to break legal rules to successfully hunt down the bad guys. Of course his girlfriend had fought on his side and has been killed in action. We learn this in the opening scene.

The bad guys have the famous idea to rob gold bars (can money be more difficult to carry away?) and they do it with ease. It took just a grenade on the highway to get rid of all the chasing police force.

The Clown starts the hunt. A friend supports helicopters (yes, several of them, because they are wrecked one after the other). And a blondish journalist shows up, right in time to be taken hostage and later to kiss the clown. No other purpose for her to be in the movie. I already forgot how the bad guys were stopped in the end.

Action in a movie doesn't have do be explosions. But in this movie, everything explodes. And as in the German TV series "Cobra 11", cars tend to lift off in slow motion as soon as they hit a little obstacle. This is dull entertainment, destruction for the lover of brute force. You don't care for any character in this movie. The makers tried to make us feel for that poor man that had lost his girlfriend, but it doesn't work just by putting in the scene of her death in slow motion.

If you like TV productions like "Cobra 11", you will probably like this movie. But don't expect more. If you go to the movies to be touched and moved by the story, this is definitely not your film.

But whoever came up with this crap? The series had more action, more funny lines, and a packed story altogether. The effects are crappier than I've ever seen before. Take the shot with the lorry that's being rocketed - you clearly see a dummy driving. Or the shot where a car passes a tram, it's clearly computer generated.

Might not be that bad, but untrue characters that do really stupid moves, it might have been acceptable at the beginning of cinema.

And then the soundtrack. After practically every scene a bit of English or German noise has to be added. Why, is it a musical or what?

Really awful and unbelievable. We've seen many events in other movies before, and a lot better. I loved Kommissar Rex, Derrick, Der Alte, Der Klown, but this is major C*R*A*P!

I like to agree with Markus Schnitzler , it's a rock-solid action movie, made to watch just for fun, not to consider the worlds biggest problems ! The stunts are incredible, cars and motorcycles of course, but helicopters, and not only one, they crash 2 and just an airplane too.

And I like the split-screens too, they look good and they can give you a lot of information in a short time and the story rolls on.

Of course the story is not the best , I've ever seen, but it is so far OK, cause you don't go there to ask for logic and depth, right ?

If you like fast and breathless action, here you can get it ! It is certainly worth a try :-)