"Germanikus" is a German movie from 2004, so this one will have its 15th anniversary two years from now. The director is Hanns Christian Müller and if you are a German film buff, you will immediately make a connection to actor Gerhard Polt and rightfully so, because Polt is one of several writers here and he also plays the title character in here. Gisela Schneeberger is on board as always too next to Polt and you will see several known faces here like Engelke, Bleibtreu, Hermann, Schneider, Sözer and more, even if most of them only have one-scene performances. But it shows how respected Polt is today, even a long long time after his peak. It was a tough decision here, but I need to give this film a thumbs-down. There are some good moments without a doubt and a few pretty creative ideas for sure. I also liked the introduction and epilogue by Polt himself, especially the prologue and it helped in understanding that the film does not want to be taken seriously at all. The long middle part that is set centuries back in the past has also a great deal of interhuman conversations and communication in it and the fact that it is not Polt's best is just because his best is great and this is only good. But sadly, the film also went over the top on many occasions and yes, it is supposed to be taken lightly, but it just wasn't funny enough and you could see frequently shots at comedy gone wrong. Not really wrong, but unsuccessful lets say. There were some moments when I felt Polt was crucial to the overall film, but there were also others when I thought that he did not make a difference at all and others could have played the part as/equally well. It's certainly not as defining a film for Polt as some other works written by him. It's without a doubt better and more creative than Und Äktschn!, but not good enough overall. I suggest you skip these pretty short 80 minutes and watch something else instead.
Review of Germanikus
Germanikus
(2004)
Not a bad film, but perhaps too absurd at times
8 September 2017
Warning: Spoilers