Review of The Good German (2006) by Eric O — 20 Jul 2011

What Soderbergh obviously tried to do is reconstruct the Film Noir experience of the 50s which I'm not an expert on but I must admit it has it's Noir moments.

Somehow it resembled the Noir classic The Third Man regarding the environment of the destroyed city and the search for a dead man by a journalist.

I also have to give The Good German credit for taking place in Europe of the postwar years which not many films do.

There are some obvious weak points that struck me:

1) Tobey Maguire is a poor villain.

2) The script is totally uninspired while the background is quite interesting and would've had potential.

3) Casting a German actress instead of Cate Blanchett would've made more sense though her German accent is ok and her German not so bad but her character is supposed to be German... well she should speak it fluidly.

Besides, Clooney is one of my favourite actors and he just looks great in black and white.

Altogether I didn't hate The Good German but neither really loved it.