Sadly, This One's Miss-Able
- Review By:
- PoseyDozer
- Date:
- February 27, 2009
- Movie:
- The Princess and the Warrior
- Director:
- Tom Tykwer
- Released:
- 2000
- Good Guy:
- Sissi
- Played By:
- Franke Potente
- Bad Guy:
- Steini
- Played By:
- Lars Rudolph
- MPAA Rating:
- R
- Family Friendly Ages:
- Older teens
The Princess and the Warrior will disappoint anyone who has seen Run Lola Run. The latter film, which also starred Franka Potente and was written and directed by Warrior director Tom Tykwer, should not be missed. Unfortunately, The Princess and the Warrior probably should.
Potente plays a young woman named Sissi who works as an attendent or nursing aide at a psychiatric institution. Hit by a truck while she is out with one of her charges, she is rescued by Bodo (Benno Furmann ), who later attempts to rob a bank with his brother. Sissi, who coincidently happens to be in the bank retrieving a locket from a safe deposit box as the heist goes awry, saves Bodo from a gun-wielding bank employee and offers him safe haven at the asylum.
Problems a many plague this movie. Let's start with the crying. We are introduced to the crying of Bodo early in the film. Newly employed at a funeral parlor, Bodo cries at the grave side of a woman he never met (and whose photo coincidently turns up in the locket mentioned above). Crying, though, is an inaccurate description of this habit of his. There are no red eyes; there is no evidence of emotion, just wet cheeks. And we're talking very wet here. Bodo later claims that his crying is genetic. Well is it? Who knows. Whether it is or not, it fails to rise to the level of metaphor. It's just silly.
Next? The murder. This bomb is dropped just before the end of the film. We discover that Sissi's mother, who also worked at the psychiatric institution, was murdered by one of the patients. We learn this through a series of flashbacks as the same patient tries to murder Bodo, who coincidently also is in the bathtub when the murder attempt occurs.
Next? If you've made it this far, you are well aware of another problem with the movie. The plot rests almost completely on coincidence. One coincidence? No problem. Two. Hmmm. Three or more? Not credible. And while a really good incredible movie causes you to suspend disbelief, this one just doesn't.
