User Reviews

"Der Metzger und der Tote im Haifischbecken", which roughly means translated "The Metzger (it is his name, but the word means "butcher" and the dead person in the shark tank" is a German television movie from 2015, so this one will have its 5th anniversary next year and it was directed by Andreas Herzog (not the former football player), who is neither new to making films nor really experience. The writer here, Holger Karsten Schmidt, is definitely more experienced and he was in charge of adapting Thomas Raab's novel for the screen. The outcome is this 90-minute movie that probably feels more Austrian than German though because of lead actor Robert Palfrader (reminded me physically of Wotan Wilke Möhring), who is certainly more known in Austria than he is here in Germany. I'd say he was okay all in all, even if he is nowhere near my favorite Austrian actors out there. And while he is solid, I must also say that his female co-lead Dorka Gryllus helped matters a lot here, not just looks-wise, but also mostly to lighten things up comedy-wise. My initial idea that she may be a killer quickly vanished. Anyway, there is more than one victim here and the second dead person is found in the aforementioned shark tank. You can of course speculate a bit yourself what happened and who did it, but you don't have to. I did not really and preferred enjoying the film with all the comedy attached to it. They are really toying with the audience at times like when we have the masseur move up to her neck and talk about a little sting where you could think je injects her some poison maybe. Then again, he seems to be crushing on her or is it just fake? Actually all men seem to be crushing on her somehow, also the police guy at the crime scene. Well, is our "hero" too. If so, then he is certainly pretty good in hiding it and maybe that is the challenge she likes. Honestly I must say when he went to drink some wine in the early hours of the day instead of spending time with her and also says some nice words to his wine buddy I thought that perhaps he is even gay. Which he is not. That much I can say. Oh yeah, a dog is included here too, but luckily for once it does not die. I think in the second half, the film gets a little more serious in tone and includes less comedic references and that is why I would say that I preferred the first half. It was typical Austrian dark tongue-in-cheek comedy as I have seen it many times before that and it still doesn't feel like it is getting old or anything at all. So in the end, there is family drama and tragedy exposed which shows us the reasons and motives for the killer. The one thing that did feel a bit uncreative though was the scene how the main character was taken hostage by the killer near the end and I could have done without it. Or with a better revelation all in all anyway. At least the God-given punishment (you can really call it that looking at what happens exactly) is really dark and funny again then with the car crashing into the Jesus figure. Okay, overall this would be all. This one aired back in 2015 and immediately afterwards they showed a second crime movie starring Palfrader as Metzger. Since then, nothing new and that is alright. I think there was a decline in quality already for the second, so no need to keep going like that. But I will talk about the sequel later on, namely right away. Just not here. These first 1.5 hours geta thumbs-up from me and there were many smaller scenes that made me smile like when the woman is staring at the masseur and Metzger makes some noise on the table to get her attention, but it's never really safe to say if he wants her professional (i.e. assistant) attention or her personal (i.e. romantic). And there was also some investigating going on later on with the help of food, so this was not too good in my opinion and I can't deny this film also had occasional weaknesses. Like I really adore Johnny Cash, but his song inclusions here did not work at all with the tone of the story and specific scenes they were used for. I never really thought of giving it less or more than 3 stars out of 5. Worth seeing.