Who payed the critics

I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

"Das Jesus Video" or " The Hunt for the Hidden Relic" or "Ancient Relic" is a German German-language movie that came out back in 2002, which means it has its 15th anniversary this year. It is based on a novel by Andreas Eschbach. The director is Sebastian Niemann and the writer is Martin Ritzenhoff and looking at other works from these two I must say I am almost a bit surprised that this film we have here did not become a huge failure as there are more than just a few projects in their bodies of work that are underwhelming to say the least and honestly when ProSieben makes a film about Jesus that runs for over three hours, then chances are it becomes a huge mess. So yes this was a small screen release, but it did not turn into a huge mess. But it also did not turn into a quality film by any means. If you look at the cast, you will not find too many known names here. Koeberlin is a bit of a poor man's Florian Lukas (not that Lukas is a great actor) and other than him the stunning Naike Rivelli is the female co-lead. Dietrich Hollinderbäumer is probably known to heute show audiences. Hans Diehl is August Diehl's father. Gode Benedix is kind of a nice presence, at least for me, even if he admittedly also played in quite a few bad films and you can probably count this one here as well into that category.Now about the film itself: There are some weaker acting performances with bad moments in here, but there is not one area where the film really sucks. But there is also not one area where it is really convincing. I already stated in the title that I feel the script is kinda bloated. The title of the film states that this is a film about time travel and thus about the possibility of making a video about Jesus Christ with actual footage and the latter is the absolute core plot in the film. But wait... isn't the fact that they may have succeeded with time traveling much more spectacular? Anyway, there are some moments here and there when the film digs into sucker territory, like the way they kill off one guy so that the female protagonist is single again and ready to mingle with the male protagonist. Anyway, with this subject I am not too surprised that the film received a great deal of attention (not with awards bodies, just audiences), but it is sadly at over 180 minutes not good enough, not focused enough, not concise enough to really live up to its potential. The ending is fine I think, though a bit melodramatic perhaps and I also liked some other scenes like the interrogation at the end of the first 90 minutes. As a whole, however, the negative is more frequent and I give this one a thumbs-down. Don't watch.

This is not another Nazi film, although is is German, and it is eerily similar to Raiders of the Lost Ark.Based upon a novel by Andreas Eschbach, you get two contrasting opinions on the film compared to the book. At over three hours, you will think you are reading a novel, rather than watching a film.It is a suspense thriller/time-travel movie. Archaeologists find bones that are carbon dated at 2000 years, but there are amalgam fillings in the teeth and a rod in the leg that can only be seven years old. In addition, there is a plastic bag withe instructions for a video camera that is not even on the market.Only one explanation, and the German title, Das Jesus Video, gives a better clue to what was going on.While the archaeologists are trying to decipher the riddle, there is a group led by a man in a secret organization descended from the Spanish Inquisition, much like Silas in The Da Vinci Code. Both have no qualms about killing for Jesus.Lots of action, and great stunt work, along with blood and torture, as the two groups go after the video camera that allegedly has the face of Jesus. Some surprises at the end, as expected, which add to the mystery.

This movie is so poor and full of clichés, that I watched it to the end just from masochistic pleasure and desire to see, how bad it can yet become. From solving of love-triangle problem to amazing escapes, from changing the characters behavior as the story need to romantic-heroic quotes - cliché on cliché! I absolutely agree with the opinion of some other user, that: "It's one of those movies which are so bad, that it gets funny." I laughed on tons of flat dialogs and actors trying to pretend the dead-seriously acting. I watched it on TV in two parts and in first part I was able to predict some things that fulfilled in second part. I have not read the book, I never heard of it, but it must have been bestseller only because of the topic (people like mysteries, but I've read surely much better books about time traveling). Regardless of book, this TV adaptation is awful. The main character (Matthias Koeberlin) can act just with his eyebrows and the rest of the cast is a bunch of ugly Germans (except Manou Lubowski) acting just with the angry face. From my point of view is German cinematography mostly made of C-class crime-series and D-class romantic flicks with poor actors, but there are some fantastic exceptions, like Knockin' on Heaven's Door, I'm Juli (without the apostrophe, it's not my fault, this system always rewrite it), Was tun, wenn's brennt? or Das Experiment. If you want to watch something German, try rather these ones.

Oh my goodness!!! What a mess!!! Here goes together what belongs together... ;-)REALLY BAD actors together with a REALLY BAD story go together with even worse dialogues and acting and worst of all: One of the most miserable adaptions of a brilliant novel for film!"Pro7", the German tv sender and producer of the movie, had told its audience that this would be the "event-movie" of the year... Ha, ha, ha! Oh well, and the earth is still flat, doesn't move and is at the centre of the whole universe...! ;-)))This sure as hell was the worst film i saw this year - and i saw lots of them! At least up to the moment... But this year won't last very much longer so chances are that it will remain the worst.To make things even more worse: Besides the title and the name of two characters the film has more or less nothing to do or in common with the underlying absolutely brilliant novel by Mr. Eschenbach. Several friends of mine who had read the book (me personally i hadn't had the opportunity up to the moment) unanimously stated this and even if it had, the film was still absolutely horrible, with bad dialogues, an illogic story and absolutely no development of suspense.Perhaps this film should be shown to producers, actors and directors - as an extremely good example how a movie should definitely NOT be done!!!What a waste of time, money and all other resources! If Pro7, the German TV sender, had only stuck to its original and real capabilities: They are one of Germany's most successful commercial TV-senders but NOTHING more. And... they do a horrible job in film production!Do Yourself a favour and yell for help and try to run away if someone wants You to watch this this so-called "event-movie"!