I saw this film just a day after I had been in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna and had bought a book about Hieronymus Bosch . A weird coincidence, because the film starts with an explosion in the Kunsthistorisches Museum right in front of painting of Bosch! That very same day soldiers stopped a terrorist who wanted to enter the Louvre, another museum of world fame. Of course terrorism at tourist attractions is a greater problem today than it was in 1999, but still I think it is a bit tasteless to invent "terrorism" where it has not happened so far. I you do, at least the story should be good, but this is definitely not the case with Der Feuerteufel.
It has lots of action, spectacular fire effects and quite a number of well-known Austrian and German actors. The story is supposed to be some highbrow mystery about secret codes in paintings, but it doesn't convince at all. The main characters are not very credible either and the dialogues are weak. Even worse is the solution of the killings. Till the end we don't know why he did it or how he got the technical knowledge to cause those highly complicated explosions. I really wonder why the Austrian television has invested so much money in such a ridiculous script.
It has lots of action, spectacular fire effects and quite a number of well-known Austrian and German actors. The story is supposed to be some highbrow mystery about secret codes in paintings, but it doesn't convince at all. The main characters are not very credible either and the dialogues are weak. Even worse is the solution of the killings. Till the end we don't know why he did it or how he got the technical knowledge to cause those highly complicated explosions. I really wonder why the Austrian television has invested so much money in such a ridiculous script.
