"Meister des Todes 2" (which means "Master of Death 2" and could also be the title of a horror movie) is a German television film that had its premiere just less than 4 hours ago. The writer and director is Daniel Harrich here, a pretty prolific filmmaker by now, but I must say that all I have seen from him so far did not manage to impress me. And this is probably when his career really hits rock bottom, which admittedly has at least as much to do with his cast here than iit has to do with him. He was also the man in charge of the first "Meister des Todes" five years ago. I have not seen that one, but I don't think it should be required to have seen a film in order to appreciate another, so I still went for it. Besides, in terms of the key players, this is pretty much a completely different movie anyway. I think in the first it was all about Koffler and Lauterbach. Well, the former is out, the latter is in this one, but plays almost no role at all except being Ferres' character's husband and that's it. He was merely an observer in the first half and in the second half he is gone completely. No surprise. Still I must say a film needs to be really when I say that I miss Lauterbach a bit because he is a very overrated actor and far more famous than he should be. But at least he wasn't too horrible here. One who was is the one I already mentioned: Veronica Ferres. Same as always with her. 3 face expressions max throughout the entire movie and it is shameful that she still gets cast for lead characters. Oh well. The other actress you see on the poster is Katharina Wackernagel and she fits the same description. Extremely limited actress. I have not seen her in anything for a while, which is definitely a positive trend, but seeing her back in this movie here reminded me of how she has no talent when it comes to displying subtlety etc. Just like Ferres.
The film itself takes place basically on 3 different locations: first would be the courtroom with Nosbusch, an actress who was absolutely beautiful in her glory days, but a good actress she never was. Not in this film here either. Second location would be in Mexico when we watch one character who is indirectly linked to the trial in Germany and linked to this arms scandal. And "third location" is basically everything else, i.e. the other scenes in Germany outside the courtroom. Let me say a few words on the courtroom scenes. They were very unrealistic and all the way for dramatic purpose with zero realism. What do we have? A character wwho is a witness and had access to files where he should not have had any access. A character who is in danger of going to jail if the judge decides against him and his first scene when the lawyer tries to make sure he does not say anything, but he still talks, is pretty weak too. And finally of course the mess with the Mexican guy who is taken outside (of course violently for no reason, would not happen in reality either). And this scene was supposed to show us how kind of a character Wackernagel's character is. Sigh. So bad really. The judgment was a cheap attempt to do without the stereotypical happy ending and that by definition is an okay idea, but not if it executed so horribly like it is here. Normally it is a good thing if Ferres is not lead in the film's last third, but also mostly an observer now, but here it is not because Wackernagel is at least as bad. terrible casting decisions all along. That Mexican character (the actor I mean) was better than the two women you see on the photo here and he had almost no screen time or material. This movie really is a mess from beginning to end. Be it Lauterbach's character's death out of nowhere, Ferres' character's rushed-in alcoholism issues or the courtroom scenes towards the end when it escalates: It all feels fake and staged. Truly embarrassing. Weakest moment of the movie? Maybe when Ferres goes from acting nice to get the photo with the guy who knew her man to acting tense when we see her face and she leaves the room now that she has the photo. Unreal stuff. Pure cringe. This film honestly makes me zero curious about the first. Not gonna watch it anytime soon I guess. On 1st April you play jokes on your friends occasionally, but the Harrich and his cast here reached a level where it is not a joke anymore, but an insult to the audience. Disgusting we (i.e. the German people) are literally forced to pay ARD (and the others) to come up with garbage films like this. Also a bit diappointed by some of the pretty talented actors in supporting roles here that they agreed to appear in this mess. Major thumbs-down. The only question for me here is if it was a weak watch or a really bad watch, but taking everything into account there is no way I would not go for the latter. Keep your safety distance!
The film itself takes place basically on 3 different locations: first would be the courtroom with Nosbusch, an actress who was absolutely beautiful in her glory days, but a good actress she never was. Not in this film here either. Second location would be in Mexico when we watch one character who is indirectly linked to the trial in Germany and linked to this arms scandal. And "third location" is basically everything else, i.e. the other scenes in Germany outside the courtroom. Let me say a few words on the courtroom scenes. They were very unrealistic and all the way for dramatic purpose with zero realism. What do we have? A character wwho is a witness and had access to files where he should not have had any access. A character who is in danger of going to jail if the judge decides against him and his first scene when the lawyer tries to make sure he does not say anything, but he still talks, is pretty weak too. And finally of course the mess with the Mexican guy who is taken outside (of course violently for no reason, would not happen in reality either). And this scene was supposed to show us how kind of a character Wackernagel's character is. Sigh. So bad really. The judgment was a cheap attempt to do without the stereotypical happy ending and that by definition is an okay idea, but not if it executed so horribly like it is here. Normally it is a good thing if Ferres is not lead in the film's last third, but also mostly an observer now, but here it is not because Wackernagel is at least as bad. terrible casting decisions all along. That Mexican character (the actor I mean) was better than the two women you see on the photo here and he had almost no screen time or material. This movie really is a mess from beginning to end. Be it Lauterbach's character's death out of nowhere, Ferres' character's rushed-in alcoholism issues or the courtroom scenes towards the end when it escalates: It all feels fake and staged. Truly embarrassing. Weakest moment of the movie? Maybe when Ferres goes from acting nice to get the photo with the guy who knew her man to acting tense when we see her face and she leaves the room now that she has the photo. Unreal stuff. Pure cringe. This film honestly makes me zero curious about the first. Not gonna watch it anytime soon I guess. On 1st April you play jokes on your friends occasionally, but the Harrich and his cast here reached a level where it is not a joke anymore, but an insult to the audience. Disgusting we (i.e. the German people) are literally forced to pay ARD (and the others) to come up with garbage films like this. Also a bit diappointed by some of the pretty talented actors in supporting roles here that they agreed to appear in this mess. Major thumbs-down. The only question for me here is if it was a weak watch or a really bad watch, but taking everything into account there is no way I would not go for the latter. Keep your safety distance!
