Hagen - Im Tal der Nibelungen

German fantasy productions have become rare, so I was glad someone decided to once again use the Song of the Nibelungs, the classic German hero tale, as a source for inspiration - even if the movie itself is based on a book by Wolgang Hohlbein.

Visually this is an impressive looking production, with lush setdesign and inspiring costumes.

But the acting is wooden - all around, I'd say. Main protagonist Hagen f.e. Never goes on any kind of classic "Hero's Journey". He just stays his stoic, usual self throughout the entire film, often coming off as a person looking "into the film", while more interesting stuff happens to other characters.

It also can't seem to answer its own question whether or not to lean into the really outlandish fantasy elements of the story it is based on. That must explain why I never could shake the feeling off that entire scenes were simply missing, especially in the first act, because the film does a horrible job introducing characters and story. You'd be lost without at least basic knowledge of the Nibelungs.

See it for the visuals. Otherwise there's nothing really memorable here.

This film shows a modified version of the all too familiar NIBELUNGENLIED. No wonder, this time the original comes from the fantasy novel HAGEN VON TRONJE written by the German fantasy writer Wolfgang HOHLBEIN. A "German Game of Thrones" was not the result, but the directing duo, who have already made the German-Austrian quality series DER PASS with Julia JENTSCH and Nicholas OFCZAREK, are putting in a lot of effort.

The NIBELUNGENLIED was written around 1200 and is considered the high point of Medieval German literature. Unlike in the films by Fritz LANG (1924) and Harald REINL (1966), the story here is told from the perspective of Hagen von Tronje, who has previously been seen as the ruthless murderer of the shining hero Siegfried von Xanten.

In the current film, Hagen (Gijs NABER) is the benevolent protector of Kriemhild and her brothers, who are being challenged by the charismatic, radiant Siegfried (Jannis NIEWÖHNER) in a populist manner. This is an approach that tells the story of the Nibelungs in a less idealistic and more politically pragmatic way. There is intrigue and murder, almost like in Shakespeare's plays.

The German mini-major studio CONSTANTIN FILM has not been stingy and has delivered a real fantasy gem, which is unfortunately rather unusual for German-language cinema. Unfortunately, audiences in German-speaking countries have not quite gone along with it. So far (as of December 21, 2024), the film has only been able to attract 177,167 visitors to the cinemas, which corresponds to a box office of 1,912,444 EURO.

Hopefully the film will still be watched by many after its theatrical release! It's worth it!

Germany has some pretty awesome folklore and mythology. Germans also developed and built some of the best film equipment in the world. Unfortunately, Germany doesn't seem to have any talented people to bring those two together.

HAGEN is a tremendous waste of crew talent and money, and it is even more sad when you occasionally see a glimpse of what this could have been in the hands of somewhat capable filmmakers. The script delivers a boring, incoherent story that fails to take its audience on any journey. The characters are astonishingly bland, and Hagen himself stumbles through this film in complete apathy.

It is a special gift to make the ancient German equivalent of Severus Snape be so terribly boring, but somehow the writers-directors accomplished this seemingly impossible feat. His actor is amongst the best of the entire film, but still fails to carry it, actively being stripped of any charisma and/or actual things to do in the scene. The rest of the actors are mostly embarrassing, especially Kriemhild and Siegfried. What a farce.

And so, this is another fine example of how millions of euros get burned to produce embarrassingly bad films and shows and keep a small elite of "filmmakers" on top of the game. It doesn't even matter how bad and ill-received these productions are - somehow, it's always still the same names, the same production companies, the same incompetence.

I loved it! The movie had all that is needed to be epic. Intriguing characters, a strong storyline, astonishing settings and of course a lot of Hagen. Although I imagined him being more talkative instead of being a german version of Ned Stark, I loved it anyway. It is an experience in cinema, that shouldn't be missed. The must-see movie of the year. A tribute to the old tale of the Nibelungen and a rare pearl within the German movie landscape. It's love story breaks with old stereotypes. It is not full of unnecessary sex scenes and the fight scenes are well shot. I cannot wait to see this movie again.

The film is said to have cost 40 million euros. (There will also be a TV series made of the movie, or it was filmed simultaneously. ). Anyway, the result is just sad and embarrassing.

First mistake. Boring as hell of screenplay.

Second mistake: Boring actors, or rather, what are they supposed to play given such a lousy script? The box office in Germany was a disaster. Not even 200,000 viewers in theaters. Not to be recommended at all. No TV series with X to Z episodes will fix that either.

Maybe the filmmakers should have just watched Game of Thrones or one of the really good Viking series to see how to entertain in an exciting way.