User Reviews

"Gangs" is a German film from 2009, so this 85-minute movie will have its 10th anniversary 2 years from now. If you take a look at the names who made this (Matsutani, Wehlings, Klehmet), then this is not necessarily a negative deal breaker, even if this trio has also worked on several films that were pretty bad admittedly during their careers, even if the two writers weren't that experiences already back in 2009 as this was their third fill feature film (together). Matsutani is of course much more experiences. And I would say he is also the least of the problems this film has. The biggest problems are the two Ochsenknecht brothers/sons, who don't have a single bone in their bodies that oozes acting talent or range. Without their famous father, they would not be having careers at all. The line delivery is either lackluster (the older), try-hard (the younger) or just plain bad (both of them). The script is not doing them any favors either. The story is ridiculously bad looking at the stuff these people are doing. Police are non-existent or depicted as complete fools here and we are supposed to believe that they are not on the same level as some wannabe gangsters robbing banks here. Oh yeah, they are so badass, so tough, so cool. I cannot eat as much as I want to throw up. The mere thought of them trying to sell us the younger Pchsenknecht with his baby-face as some kind of young Marlon Brando / James Dean character is an abomination. Nothing about the story makes sense. Nothing about the characters makes sense either. I like Emilia Schüle usually, but honestly seeing her in stuff like this (and hardly being any better than her male counterparts) makes me think that perhaps she is also just another really pretty face with not too much range. I am yet to see a truly convincing performance from her like from Jella Haase for example. The Ochsenknechts thought that they were too old and too grown-up for the Wilde Kerle franchise back then when they made this one, so it's time to step on the next ladder age-wise. And the outcome is just as garbage as their football-themed movies. I suggest you take a look on the melodramatic plot summary here on IMDb for "Gangs" and you know what to expect. This film tries to be all kinds of stuff: crime movie, movie about bonds between brothers, romance movie, socially relevant about gangs and their motivations etc. It is none of all that. It is just a gigantic mess from start to finish and a definite contender for most horrible movie from 2009. The worst is actually how serious the film takes itself. Do yourself a favor and stay as far away as you can.