Sixty Minutes 2024 Movie Review
Even though Keanu Reeves and Scott Adkins brawl extensively through a fictional Berlin techno club in ” John Wick: Chapter 4 “, action films produced entirely in Germany are still a rarity – as are extensive martial arts sequences that require elaborate stunt choreography . Apart from the lonely studio experiment “ Plan B – Screw Plan A ”, there were low-budget projects in this country such as “ Atomic Eden ” (2015) with the participation of Thuringian stuntman Mike Möller, who recently appeared in a silent but memorable supporting role in “ “Expendables 4”, alone for a long time. A penalty that “ Tribes Of Europa ” series creator Philip Koch probably also knows about.
It wasn’t until 2022 that he founded his own production company NOCTURNA Productions – and is now setting an exclamation mark in the German spanking genre with his first film project: Together with director Oliver Kienle (” The Four-Handed “), Koch developed the script for the action thriller ” 60 ” that is as hard-hitting as it is sure-footed Minutes “, which now appears directly on Netflix’s streaming offering. Many ideas for the chase across Berlin, which is enriched with gangster clichés, seem to have been cobbled together from US models – but: In terms of craftsmanship, the stunts and choreographies are convincing across the board, thanks to a martial arts-experienced cast around Emilio Sakraya (” Rheingold “) !
On the birthday of his daughter Leonie (Morik Maya Heydo), mixed martial arts fighter Octavio Bergmann ( Emilio Sakraya ) finally gets his chance to prove himself in the cage against Robert Benko ( Aristo Luis ) after two postponements. But Leonie’s mother ( Livia Matthes ) gives Octavio an ultimatum immediately before the prestigious fight: If he doesn’t attend his daughter’s birthday party in an hour, she will take away his custody. Octavio drops everything to get there on time. Since his manager Paul ( Dennis Mojen ) and gangster Chino ( Paul Wollin ) have a lot of money at stake (and even their own lives due to illegal bets), they and their henchmen follow him…
What follows is a breathless chase – fueled by a wafer-thin plot, which Koch and Kienle half-heartedly enrich with predictable twists and plenty of gangster film clichés. A mysterious criminal organization pulling the strings in the background shouldn’t be missing. Octavio’s constant companion is a button in his ear with which he occasionally receives text messages or answers calls (resolved with split screens). Meanwhile, the displayed digital timer, including real-time location determination, ticks down mercilessly in the best “ 24 ” style – more dynamic could hardly be achieved in terms of staging. Emilio Sakraya rocks the fight scenes
The skirmishes with firearms and physical fights between Wedding and Neukölln don’t just take place on the open street in urban canyons around Prenzlauer Berg that have so far been little filmed. A café, where Octavio wants to pick up a birthday cake he ordered, and a disco lit with neon lights (“John Wick: Chapter 4”) also serve as the locations for the technically adept action marathon. But because at some point Octavio himself realizes that he probably won’t be able to make it to the birthday party in the 60 minutes anyway, the real-time gimmick that gives it the title becomes increasingly less important.
The choreographies of the sometimes brutal and bloody fights, in which various martial arts styles are used, are complex – and the blonde Emilio Sakraya, who was actually a German karate master in his youth, masters them with flying colors. However, he is hardly challenged beyond that in terms of acting. If the nerves are weak, the only thing left for the constantly aggressive contemporary is dialogues full of curses and insults. This consequently lands him (albeit briefly) in the back seat of a police car for insulting an official, before he continues to run, drive and fight through Berlin. Nevertheless, he is a likeable figure – because all the other characters are even dumber and drawn more like a drawing board, with attempts to borrow from Hollywood’s gangster film models.
Dennis Mojen (“ Dream Factory ”) comes across as extremely inexperienced as a greasy manager with a gold chain, while Paul Wollin (“ Dogs Of Berlin ”) as an intrusive, shady gangster has to recite the worst lines of dialogue: “Just show that fucker that we fuck here in Berlin And don’t jerk off, mh?” In addition to Emilio Sakraya, the Berliner Marie Mouroum , who also worked as a stunt woman in “Avengers: Infinity War” and “James Bond 007: No Time to Die”, is particularly convincing in the martial arts scenes – We would have liked to see more of her as Octavio’s congenial sparring partner, but unfortunately her screen time is very short.
“60 Minutes” is raw, a bit wooden at times and, without its own ideas, looks very much like Hollywood. But – and this is a big BUT: The martial arts action is absolutely impressive in terms of craftsmanship.
