The Good
A very well crafted movie that puts a more modern spin, while paying homage, to the films of the past.
The Bad
No extra features.
When war journalist Jake Geismer (George Clooney) is sent Berlin for seemingly no reason at all, he appears to be a man trying to find a story. Little does he know that the story will find him. It all begins with his driver, Tully (Tobey Maguire), being killed. In investigating his murder Geismer finds out that Tully was involved in a lot of dealings with the Germans and the Russians. In addition to this, he was also carrying on a relationship with Lena (Cate Blanchett), who just happens to be Jake’s old girlfriend. After digging a little deeper, Jake realizes that the US government is going to provide asylum for a bunch of Nazi scientists because they possess certain information that could be beneficial to the US. However, Lena’s husband Emile (Christian Oliver) has information that could hurt this transaction of human collateral. It seems that all sides would be happy if he wasn’t around. Suddenly, Jake Geismer has a story but its one that comes all too close to home.
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Filled with amoral characters trying to do the right thing, morally bankrupt people that could care less about humanity, and a lone do gooder who can’t get his former love out of his mind, The Good German is a very well crafted piece of filmmaking. Steven Soderbergh has made a movie that looks like it could have come out 50 years ago. He employs all the conventions that those movies had, yet he seems to be trying to tack on more of a moral compass in terms of social and political issues.
Features
No extras came with this DVD.
Video
Standard Version presented in a format preserving the aspect ratio of its original theatrical exhibition. To say that this movie looks amazing would be an understatement. It looks incredible. The black and white effect that Soderbergh (he also shot the film) has achieved plays to both film noir and the classic movies of the past (namely Casablanca). There is a richness to all the scenes and Soderbergh has had his actors play their roles without the nuance that today’s performers use. There are no fancy camera moves and, in a lot of ways, I think that helps us get in even more absorbed in Jake Geismer’s sleuth-like quest.
Audio
Dolby Digital. English, French and Spanish Dolby Surround. The audio on this film was really sharp. From what I understand, Soderbergh used a boom microphone and made the actors enunciate every word. There was none of the whispering that passes for talking like in today’s movies. Even though this film is going for a much older look and feel, it really did play well for me today. I found that the score worked to draw me into the story, but it wasn’t used to be campy or to help the viewer (or the characters) hide.
Package
If you placed this DVD box up against the Casablanca DVD box, you would probably think you were looking at the same film. The cover for The Good German seems to be the same one sheet that was used when this movie played theatrically. It features Maguire, Clooney and Blanchett in a black and white that almost looks animated. The back cover features a silhouette of Cate Blanchett walking through a sewer, a description of what this movie is about, a credits list and some technical specs.
Final Word
I was quite impressed with how much I liked The Good German. I remember hearing that it was going to be coming out and then I never recall it actually being released. I did some checking and it seems like it made less than $2 million in the United States. Against a budget of $32 million, I am sure that somebody wasn’t happy with that result. In some ways this movie seemed to have an almost slapstick quality (the fact that George Clooney gets his ass kicked almost 5 times plays no small part in this). There is just something about the older, maybe more melodramatic style of acting, that doesn’t seem like it works as much today as it did in the past. With its black and white look, mixed in with historical footage from that time, Soderbergh, at the very least, has put together a movie that is nothing if not interesting.
At its basest level, The Good German is film from the past that was made with the sensibility of today.
The Good German was released December 8, 2006.
