Review: Dobermann

Cinema & Digital Download: Dobermann (1997)

Accidentally handed a gun while lying in his pram in the church during his own christening (I kid you not!), Yann Lepentrec dit Le Dob…AKA Dobermann (Vincent Cassel) grows up to lead, along with Nathalie dit Nat la Gitane (Monica Bellucci), a violent gang who find themselves in the middle of a bank robbery where all plans are thrown out of the window…along with a few bloody bodies too.

Hard-ass cop Cristini (Tchéky Karyo) has his own personal vendetta against Dobermann and his gang, letting nothing and nobody get in his way for revenge.

Oozing style and a bombastic soundtrack, Dobermann is a continuous 103 minute assault on the senses, leaving little time to rest and recover before the next crazy shootout scene occurs…think of it as a precursor to the likes of Crank and Hardcore Henry, where scenes are thrown at you relentlessly, with some hitting the mark, while others are misfires.

I did begin to find it stylistically overbearing at times, wanting a few scenes of “normality”, but in the world of Dobermann, “normal” is a word that doesn’t exist, while the cinematography and soundtrack genuinely became annoying before 60 minutes had passed.

Not a movie I’d revisit again, but well worth a watch if you’re in the mood for a bit of over the top gunplay, especially on its 25th anniversary screenings.

Review by Dave from a streaming link kindly supplied by Blue Finch Film Releasing via Alternate Current.