Der Clown

Apparently based on a German TV series of the same name and with much of the same cast, "The Clown" moves at a somewhat rushed pace, especially in the first half, that makes it feel almost like an extended series episode; the story also has some questionable points (they find the bad guys' first hideout via a pizza delivery?), and the direction is at times overly gimmicky, overusing the slow-motion and the split-screens. In spite of all that, the film satisfies on its intended pure-action level. The stunts, explosions and chases are exceptionally spectacular, easily on the level of a James Bond movie if not better, and seemingly all done for real, without the use of CGI. It's a film that seems to have been made only for the sheer joy of action, and it transfers much of that joy to the viewer. And of course my comment would be incomplete without mentioning Eva Habermann (the good girl), who is very very beautiful and very very physical, and Xenia Seeberg (the bad girl), who looks a lot like Angelina Jolie, from the expressions to the pouty lips, and gets to fire hundreds of bullets, one of them right into the gut of a man she had just kissed passionately. (**1/2)