I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

"Dobermann" is a challenging film on several accounts. The film is a dark actioner that provides highly stylized violence being done by unlikable people in the context of a simple story. The challenge is not really in understanding the film; rather it is coming away from the film liking it. The reason this film causes some distaste is that lofty goals of portraying moral relativism are shoddily executed. The following will discuss some of the films underlying assumptions and both bad and good points.There are two main assumptions that this film makes. First, there is some positive value to showing a slice of life in which near all characters are unlikable. From start to finish, the characters with the most screen time are unlikable at best and despicable at worst. In all fairness, this is somewhat of an accomplishment. To populate a film world with characters that alienate the majority of the audience does take planning and a certain finesse to render. It does, however, beg the question, "why do this?" The answer is two-fold. On one hand "Dobermann" is a film that is trying very hard to shine a light on the oft untouched realm of moral relativism. In some circles, the idea of absolute good and evil is specious at best. This film gives us an hour and a half of actions done by people who have very little in the way of a moral system. Attempting to analyze action with any moral framework is quickly frustrated. Rather characters seem to act based entirely on pragmatic and selfish reasoning that is grounded wholly in the moment. On the other hand, and the second assumption, grossly taboo behavior is intended to be entertaining or have some positive value. This is a difficult area to work with. Action films are violent almost by definition. That said, there is often some context that justifies the violence and killing. For example, Bruce Willis in "Die Hard" strikes most of us as a defender of the innocent and thus sanctioned to take life. In "Dobermann" I found myself hoping that everyone would die at just under the one hour mark. The film made every character so despicable that any pleasure that could have come from viewing broken taboos was directed more into hoping that anyone who had more than five lines was shot in the head.That this film is shocking and upsetting is not the reason that it deserves a fairly harsh critique. One would hope that an audience is capable of admiring skill and quality storytelling even if the story itself is unliked. This film not only tells an unsettling tale, it does so rather poorly. The acting for the most part, and especially by the dobermann character, is hollow and outright obnoxious. These are stock bad guys doing clichéd things. In addition, the story is too simple to sustain a serious look at moral relativism. Basically, some crooks rob a bank and are hunted and then fight the police. That is the entirety of the story. A childishly simplistic story populated with vapid characters severely limits this films ability to explore any meaningful ideas or philosophical questions. The above mentioned limitation also has the possible effect of causing a terrible disconnect with the audience. Should one loose connection with the poorly thought out and muddled ideas at the core of this film, the experience as a whole becomes one of viewing stylized mediocrity.It may seem that I have nothing good to say, but that is not the case. From a technical standpoint, this is a well done film. The score, cinematography, shot composition and editing are well done and professional. The extreme violence, while somewhat dated, is uniquely stylized and enjoyable to watch. The movie is also very humorous at times. The opening sequence is worth viewing for its humorous kitch value alone. The penultimate aspect of this film is the bad cop. If there is one truly redeeming character, it is the police officer Christini. He is far and away the most believably evil human being to have been portrayed in an action movie. While this film fails in a great many areas, the Christini character alone makes it almost worth watching.On a personal note, I will only recommend this film to core action buff friends. It would probably be better received if seen in a group as opposed to alone. 5 stars.

I don't know if this was based upon a graphic novel, or a series of such, but it definitely is one of the too few live action comic book films done *right*. The style is unique, with impeccable and crazy cinematography and wild and energetic(not to be confused with ADD-like) editing. This has the warped sense of French humor that goes into outright absurdity at times and can be rather black, as seen in Delicatessen, Amelié and, perhaps the most well-known example, Alien: Resurrection. It is an awful lot of fun from start to finish, and never runs out of steam. The pace is fast without overwhelming the viewer, and you're definite not bored at any point. This is about a gang of criminals, and there are numerous unforgettable characters, such as the titular role as played by Cassel who literally first had a gun in his hands when he was christened, a priest(!), and Nathalie, a deaf, mute or both, portrayed by Bellucci, who uses sign language throughout the entirety. The acting is spot-on. This is marvelously written, well-developed and the dialog is great and delivered with perfect timing. I did not get a hold of a copy with subtitles, so I watched it with my father and he translated as much as he could along the way(what with the speed and the non-stop slang). I would say that the filmic language is so strong that you can basically figure out what's going on even if you don't know exactly what they're saying, albeit it will cost you nuances. There is plenty of swearing and bloody violence, as well as a bit of disturbing content and a little sexuality and nudity in this. The DVD holds four hours of features(!), with a commentary track, behind the scenes documentaries, comparisons between design and final version, storyboards, deleted scenes, sequences dubbed to other mother tongues, three trailers(well, essentially one), two trailers and a partridge... I mean, some photo montages. I recommend this to any guy who enjoys awesome action flicks with amazing visuals. With bad-ass guns, cool cars, adrenaline-soaked chases and shoot-outs and hawt eye-candy, this is a crass, gritty, dark, disgusting and incredibly entertaining 100 minutes. 7/10

Story follows the gang of bank robbers trying to pull of the greatest heist of all times by robbing every major bank in the city, in one go. In their way stands an evil cop who will stop at nothing to get the gang leader. Violence is quite strong, and people are dropping like flies. The strongest point of Doberman are the hilarious characters who include murderer priest, brass knuckles specialist Pitbull, Sonia The Blowjob Artist and many others. Top stars Cassell, Bellucci, Karyo and all the rest of the cast are really at their top form. There is plenty of laughts and rude humour in it, great shootouts and excellent soundtrack. If you can through the opening credits with smile the rest is just an entertaining ride. People who enjoyed early Tarantino movies will like this one. Watching well recommended.

DOBERMANN Aspect ratio: 2.39:1Sound formats: Dolby Digital / DTSA psychotic police detective (Tchéky Karyo) pursues a gang of armed robbers led by the ultra-charismatic 'Dobermann' (Vincent Cassel).A colossal one-fingered salute to the bland, homogenised pap dominating international cinema at the time of its release, DOBERMANN not only set debut director Jan Kounen on the road to cinematic glory, it also helped kickstart an aggressive upsurge in ultra-commercial European cinema (the "Taxi" series, BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF, CRIMSON RIVERS, THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE, etc.), begun two years earlier by Mathieu Kassovitz's equally subversive LA HAINE (1995). Fans of political correctness need not apply: DOBERMANN is loud, excessive, obnoxious and morally ambiguous in equal measure, and while some viewers may be unable to reconcile themselves to the action and violence of Kounen's raucous worldview, others should cling onto their seats and prepare for the ride of a lifetime...As the above plot synopsis attests, Kounen and scriptwriter Joël Houssin (upon whose pulp novels the film is based) have stripped the plot down to its barest essentials and constructed a series of instantly recognisable character-types (saint, sinner, braggart, dimwit, etc.), thereby liberating Kounen to indulge his true objectives: To push the boundaries of cinema to their absolute limits. DOBERMANN is a swirling tornado of audiovisual delights which unfolds via shock cuts, hurtling camera-work, loud explosions and in-yer-face action set-pieces, a heady mixture of Hollywood gloss and Hong Kong stuntwork ramped to the max. You want subtle? Try Merchant Ivory. THIS movie wants to gouge your eyes out!! The cast is toplined by French superstars Cassel and Monica Bellucci (they married in 1999), playing the antihero and his ultra-loyal partner in crime, and they both manage to carve a niche amidst the film's visual excesses, while Dobermann's misfit gang includes Stéphane Metzger (TRANSFIXED) as a beautiful drag queen who supports his loving, unsuspecting wife and family via prostitution. But the movie is stolen clean away by Karyo as the deranged cop on Dobermann's tail, an irredeemable psycho who's prepared to break every rule - legal and moral - to bring his nemesis to book. However, the audience's loyalties are tested when one of Dobermann's gang (the 'good' guys) shoots an inexperienced rookie cop for no other reason than he happens to be within range during a bank robbery, an incident which pegs the characters as dispensable lowlife scum. But this outrage is balanced by a subsequent scene in which Karyo (the 'bad' guy) invades a birthday party and forces Metzger to betray Dobermann's whereabouts by threatening the younger man's newborn child, before revealing Metzger's drag queen alter ego to his horrified, clueless family. Though the scene is cruel and uncompromising, Kounen isn't interested in queer-bashing a sympathetic character, merely demonstrating the moral corruption of Karyo's villainous detective; the drag queen is written and played with quiet dignity, and Metzger's 'fate' for betraying Dobermann under duress is both amusing and redemptive...Houssin's scenario builds to a frenzied showdown in a fancy nightclub, where Dobermann's gang defend themselves against an army of gun-toting police officers, and Karyo finally confronts his mortal enemy, culminating in an explosion of horrific violence. You have been warned! In fact, the script's antisocial attitude is perhaps a little TOO crude and excessive in places, but the director signals his intentions late in the film when a drug-addled gangster goes to the toilet and uses pages from 'Cahiers du Cinema' to, er... clean up after himself (if you catch my drift)! Tired of adhering to the established confines of critical acceptability, Kounen and his production team have fashioned an instant cult classic, one which defies convention and spits in the face of diplomacy. Acting and technical credits are top-notch throughout.(French dialogue)