Invincible

I've long had it in my mind that this is one of the great, underappreciated Herzogs. On a second viewing, I guess that's not true, as it doesn't quite reach the heights of his best work. However, it does have its moments (the jellyfish, the crabs, all of the performance scenes), it's a compelling tale, and any accusations of bad acting are exaggerated. I very much enjoy Jouko Ahola's performance... he may not be a traditionally "good" actor, but neither is Bruno S.

Something of a misfire from Herzog. His meticulous work behind the camera is virtually completely undone by the awfully clunky screenplay and the endless poor performances. Ahola in particular is shambolic; Arnie like, but without the charm, and he's allowed far too much time in front of the camera to be as bad as he is. He seriously limits the film, as do many of the support cast. The most sickeningly annoying child actor ever to feature in film also reguarly appears. Roth is good though.

Intriguing, original fable is riveting until the second half which becomes somewhat ponderous and scattered, and the at times amateurish performance by Ahola becomes a liability. Nevertheless, Roth is magnificent and galvanising (the scenes of him plying his trade are almost literally hypnotic) and Herzog's stunning command of visuals are employed to terrific effect. A unique film, but I wish it had been a little more consistent.

Well that was completely awful. This is the only Herzog I've seen so far where the bad parts completely outweigh the good parts. And the good parts are pretty much all where characters perform: the stage scenes (hypnotism, strong-man stuff), the seance scenes as seen on the DVD cover, the orchestra towards the end. But these are all fleeting moments within a bad TV period drama. The acting is abysmal, the dialogue trite and on-the-nose, and it's ugly to boot. A disaster.

Nothing spectacular, but certainly not a terrible movie. Tim Roth is a great actor, but he just didn't seem quite himself in this role.

A few of the performances aren't that great (although Roth is excellent), but the story is both interesting and memorable. The camera work and imagery is on par with Herzog's other work, and the score is exceptionally beautiful.

There's a scene where Tim Roth---playing a menacing Nazi-era charlatan---hypnotizes the hero's love interest, and as he stares at her/us, I wondered if it was feasible to hypnotize us as well. Kudos to a movie that thought it was worth a shot.

Sluggish and flawed, this is a minor work in Herzog's career.

It's pretty weird and messy but as always with Herzog there's interesting ideas and striking visuals.

Ahola is no Bruno S, and this would have to be the ugliest Herzog film this viewer has seen. It looks cheap and tacky and the story is told in a rather blase fashion. There are no ecstatic truths here, only mundane ones.

Why have I never heard of this movie? It's great. If it wasn't Herzog I would never have sought it out. I counted one crab related fevered dream, and one chicken story that can be a metaphor for all of existence. God damn, Herzog is the man.

An interesting film that proves to be another gem from Herzog. I've become a big fan off Tim Roth in pretty much anything.

The unblinking hypnotist scenes are incredible. Tim Roth is fantastic, but he's the only actor whose performance benefits from it being an English-language film.

64.000

This is clearly one of Herzog's weakest films, suffering from the restrictive and milquetoast nature of the biopic film. In its favour though, he still manages to create some compelling scenes and add his own personality to the material, particularly in the use of animals, a trademark of many of his films, to represent the characters and their place in the world, something which sticks out at its best here.

Herzog's camera is spot-on, as usual, and Tim Roth is great to watch.

"...the naivete of his performance has a humbling effect on a film that, while entirely too long and short on sizzling imagery, is meant to be taken simply as folkloric." - Ed Gonzalez

Pretty good film.

Great score and amazing camera work.

Simple and interesting.

58.500

I liked this movie, but I didn't love it. It is quite nicely shot, and the music by Hans Zimmer is pretty nice. It also tells a pretty interesting story. Herzog resists telling a conventional tale, always avoiding the cliches and formulas that a similar Hollywood production would likely embrace. One thing I really enjoyed was seeing the contrast between Ahola and Roth's performances; Ahola is the mild mannered gentle giant (though not a good actor) and Roth is the charismatic asshole.

A curiosity. It's the first time I've seen a New German director tackle the subject of the Jewish Holocaust. It was a total commercial flop but Roger Ebert was crazy about it. It's a very simple, unsophisticated movie, but the characters are interesting and the plot is engaging. Roth and Gourari are good, but Ahola's performance as well as that of most of the supporting cast were underwhelming.

I sometimes call my tiny dachshund Shimson because she doesn't know how tiny she is lil lump.

unreal and awful to the point of distortion, magnification. so we could say awfully unreal; the dualism chokes on fascism and how it intersects with identity, and ultimately is crushed under its own weight.

roth is good...film lags

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