"Die Jagd nach dem Schatz der Nibelungen" or "The Charlemagne Code" is a German television film from 2008, so this one has its 10th anniversary next year. The director is (then already) experienced filmmaker Ralf Huettner and he got together a handful known names from the big screen for his project here, such as Sadler, Zimmermann, Bohm and Busch. Fans of the German television show "Szromberg" will also see two familiar faces here. And we have a very early career performance by the young Liv Lisa Fries, one of Germany's rising stars in recent years. So the cast is not the problem I guess, even if some of them admittedly score more through character than range. You can decide for yourself which of these fit the description in your opinion. The movie is pretty long, runs for almost two hours and it can be seen as a bit of a German equivalent to the "National treasure" films starring Nicolas Cage from around that time. I explicitly avoid making a connection to Indiana Jones, even if I am not really a fan of his films.
Anyway, this one we have here is about Charlemagne and with this reference, the English-language title is actually way more accurate than the German. But with the likes of Fritz Lang turning the Nibelungen into such a myth in Germany, they preferred that one. The most surprising thing, however, here is how much awards attention this movie received. If you look at the German Television Awards, it was one of the big players that year, even if it did not win a single trophy. Seriously? I guess it must have received nice audience numbers too if it gets such a reception. I will admit that it is, in terms of the subject, pretty unique for a German movie as 95% is crime now and back then already too I guess. This does not make it a good film. None of the performances are memorable. The plot felt like it took itself more seriously than it had any right to to be honest. And the story as a hole had more than just a few lengths for this runtime. But how can you blame the filmmakers when audiences and awards bodies honor mediocre and entirely forgettable works like these if they come up with no less than two sequels and turn this into a "Die Jagd nach" trilogy actually, that is maybe not even over yet. The best thing about it is really Sadler's decision to stay away from these sequels and another actor followed in his footsteps playing the protagonist Eik Meiers. But it should be over as it sucked from the beginning. Don't watch.
Anyway, this one we have here is about Charlemagne and with this reference, the English-language title is actually way more accurate than the German. But with the likes of Fritz Lang turning the Nibelungen into such a myth in Germany, they preferred that one. The most surprising thing, however, here is how much awards attention this movie received. If you look at the German Television Awards, it was one of the big players that year, even if it did not win a single trophy. Seriously? I guess it must have received nice audience numbers too if it gets such a reception. I will admit that it is, in terms of the subject, pretty unique for a German movie as 95% is crime now and back then already too I guess. This does not make it a good film. None of the performances are memorable. The plot felt like it took itself more seriously than it had any right to to be honest. And the story as a hole had more than just a few lengths for this runtime. But how can you blame the filmmakers when audiences and awards bodies honor mediocre and entirely forgettable works like these if they come up with no less than two sequels and turn this into a "Die Jagd nach" trilogy actually, that is maybe not even over yet. The best thing about it is really Sadler's decision to stay away from these sequels and another actor followed in his footsteps playing the protagonist Eik Meiers. But it should be over as it sucked from the beginning. Don't watch.