The gritty black-and-white cinematography suggests a film noir revisit, but that's as compelling as this cross between "Casablanca" and "Chinatown" manages to achieve.
With its homage to 1940s bleak, complete with washout scenes and clipped dialogue, director Stephen Soderbergh is obviously respectful of the era, but the script, adapted by Paul Attanasio, leaves much to be desired.
After all, is this an indictment on the German people; an accusation of collusion against the victorious Allied powers (who took whatever Nazi scientist and technician for their own, no matter what they may have done during the war); or is it just an old-fashioned murder mystery? The film cannot seem to decide what it wants to be.
"The Good German" takes place in post-war Berlin, and focuses on correspondent Jake Geismer (George Clooney). Evidently, he works for the lefty magazine The New Republic (I didn't know that publication was around in WWII or if it was considered progressive at the time, but I digress).
He is accompanied by a seedy driver, Cpl. Tully (Tobey Maguire) and nothing is as it seems.Tully is ultimately murdered, and Jake, unable to get press credentials to cover the July, 1945 Potsdam Conference (with Truman, Churchill and Stalin), begins to investigate some seedy goings-on.
It turns out that Tully was living with a German prostitute, Lena (Cate Blanchett), a woman Jake knew before the war. The Russians and Americans want her husband, Emil, because of his work on the V-2 rocket program; but she claims he's dead.
Blancett with an icy cool Dietrich-like manner steals the picture, and she may end up with another Oscar nomination for her efforts. Clooney, on the other hand, spends most of the film getting the crap beat out of him (every Republican's fantasy, eh?).
Despite repeated attempts to reach the intrigue bar set by the much superior Carol Reed picture, "The Third Man" (1950), "The Good German" never matches it.
With its homage to 1940s bleak, complete with washout scenes and clipped dialogue, director Stephen Soderbergh is obviously respectful of the era, but the script, adapted by Paul Attanasio, leaves much to be desired.
After all, is this an indictment on the German people; an accusation of collusion against the victorious Allied powers (who took whatever Nazi scientist and technician for their own, no matter what they may have done during the war); or is it just an old-fashioned murder mystery? The film cannot seem to decide what it wants to be.
"The Good German" takes place in post-war Berlin, and focuses on correspondent Jake Geismer (George Clooney). Evidently, he works for the lefty magazine The New Republic (I didn't know that publication was around in WWII or if it was considered progressive at the time, but I digress).
He is accompanied by a seedy driver, Cpl. Tully (Tobey Maguire) and nothing is as it seems.Tully is ultimately murdered, and Jake, unable to get press credentials to cover the July, 1945 Potsdam Conference (with Truman, Churchill and Stalin), begins to investigate some seedy goings-on.
It turns out that Tully was living with a German prostitute, Lena (Cate Blanchett), a woman Jake knew before the war. The Russians and Americans want her husband, Emil, because of his work on the V-2 rocket program; but she claims he's dead.
Blancett with an icy cool Dietrich-like manner steals the picture, and she may end up with another Oscar nomination for her efforts. Clooney, on the other hand, spends most of the film getting the crap beat out of him (every Republican's fantasy, eh?).
Despite repeated attempts to reach the intrigue bar set by the much superior Carol Reed picture, "The Third Man" (1950), "The Good German" never matches it.