This film manages the unusual trick of having the billed star (George Clooney) as a bit part while the actual star of the film (the 'good German') barely appears at all. Unfortunately I don't think this was intentional.
Soderbergh seems to have concentrated so hard showing off the technical aspects that it really doesn't matter what the audience feels, or even if the audience feels anything. I think he got so excited at the look of the film that it clean escaped him that the point of a film is to engage the audience and tell a story.
Tobey Maguire is, as advertised, uncannily unpleasant, but still not believable as a baddie. Just not menacing enough.
Robin Weigert, as the tart with a heart, features in the role of comedy light relief. While everyone else is doing noir, she seems to be in an entirely different film altogether - burlesque, maybe, although it kind of works as well as interpreter of what's going on in Lena's mind seeing as Lena is strangely unable to speak for herself during the entire film.
Cate perfectly captures that emotionless, world-weary attitude but at the expense of any sort of personality that makes you believe that a man could want her, let alone fall in love with. The Marlene Dietrich impersonation grates towards the end of the film.
George Clooney smokes a cigarette stylishly and smoulders well when called to but just doesn't seem to have any important part in the film, despite a lot of screen time.
He simply isn't the catalyst for what happens in the film; pretty much all the events in the film had already been started in motion long before he even arrives on the scene. He doesn't move the story along much. Oddly, it feels as though it would be possible to take him out of the film entirely and still have nearly all the same events take place - bar a bit towards the end.
He's basically a loser (not an anti hero) and hard to sympathise with. He loses every fight he's in (and he gets beaten up a lot); he's constantly lied to; he's played by the other characters like a fish on a line; he doesn't get the girl and can't even get laid despite paying for it. He's totally lost, running from pillar to post asking people what do they know, what are they doing and why are they doing it. Tully announces him as a patsy at the beginning of the film, and so he is. So far from Rick in Casablanca who had everything under control.
Where are this man's emotions? He supposedly came back to Berlin to find Lena but when he does find her he seems strangely unconcerned with her circumstances. Finally, when at the very end he seems to have figured out that it's not going to work out between them he just walks away from the plane seemingly without a care in the world. If at any point there's some internal crisis as he realises his heart is about to be broken, we don't see it.
Other notable absences include motivation for about half the cast: there's zero chemistry between Jake and Lena and equally nothing between Lena and the Tobey Maguire character. The only shimmer of emotion in the film is between Lena and Emil, the 'good German' - where there shouldn't be.
Soderbergh is a good director but not as good as he thinks he is. At several points the characters have to do a voice over to explain what's going on in their minds (isn't that what acting and a good script are for?), and other characters are called in to explain the plot and other characters' motivations so the audience can understand what's going on. Not usually a good sign in a film if you need to add explanations.
Soderbergh seems to have concentrated so hard showing off the technical aspects that it really doesn't matter what the audience feels, or even if the audience feels anything. I think he got so excited at the look of the film that it clean escaped him that the point of a film is to engage the audience and tell a story.
Tobey Maguire is, as advertised, uncannily unpleasant, but still not believable as a baddie. Just not menacing enough.
Robin Weigert, as the tart with a heart, features in the role of comedy light relief. While everyone else is doing noir, she seems to be in an entirely different film altogether - burlesque, maybe, although it kind of works as well as interpreter of what's going on in Lena's mind seeing as Lena is strangely unable to speak for herself during the entire film.
Cate perfectly captures that emotionless, world-weary attitude but at the expense of any sort of personality that makes you believe that a man could want her, let alone fall in love with. The Marlene Dietrich impersonation grates towards the end of the film.
George Clooney smokes a cigarette stylishly and smoulders well when called to but just doesn't seem to have any important part in the film, despite a lot of screen time.
He simply isn't the catalyst for what happens in the film; pretty much all the events in the film had already been started in motion long before he even arrives on the scene. He doesn't move the story along much. Oddly, it feels as though it would be possible to take him out of the film entirely and still have nearly all the same events take place - bar a bit towards the end.
He's basically a loser (not an anti hero) and hard to sympathise with. He loses every fight he's in (and he gets beaten up a lot); he's constantly lied to; he's played by the other characters like a fish on a line; he doesn't get the girl and can't even get laid despite paying for it. He's totally lost, running from pillar to post asking people what do they know, what are they doing and why are they doing it. Tully announces him as a patsy at the beginning of the film, and so he is. So far from Rick in Casablanca who had everything under control.
Where are this man's emotions? He supposedly came back to Berlin to find Lena but when he does find her he seems strangely unconcerned with her circumstances. Finally, when at the very end he seems to have figured out that it's not going to work out between them he just walks away from the plane seemingly without a care in the world. If at any point there's some internal crisis as he realises his heart is about to be broken, we don't see it.
Other notable absences include motivation for about half the cast: there's zero chemistry between Jake and Lena and equally nothing between Lena and the Tobey Maguire character. The only shimmer of emotion in the film is between Lena and Emil, the 'good German' - where there shouldn't be.
Soderbergh is a good director but not as good as he thinks he is. At several points the characters have to do a voice over to explain what's going on in their minds (isn't that what acting and a good script are for?), and other characters are called in to explain the plot and other characters' motivations so the audience can understand what's going on. Not usually a good sign in a film if you need to add explanations.