The Worst Film Ever

An absolute waste of money

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

How did William Hurt's gas pain ever get cast in movies? The female lead must be related to Wenders b/c she can't act, either. Sam Neill walks around in a daze and his narration is a sure sign of a failed movie. There is interesting photography here but barely a trace of a plot. It's fitting that a movie so pretentious, bloated and dull would feature a soundtrack that includes U2, R.E.M. and Depeche Mode, among others. Credit where it's due - whatsername takes her clothes off just often enough to keep things interesting. If I had paid money to see this in a theatre I would never again pay to see another Wenders movie and I'd make it my goal on social media to convince others to follow my lead. He makes Terrence Malick look like Tony Scott by comparison. I am shocked anyone would give this git five bucks to film a movie. He doesn't have a clue.

...said the voice over in the trailer and to be honest neither did TheoI made a point of watching this sometime in the early 1990s due to the hype involving U2 contributing to the soundtrack . This was before the internet era so it was kind of difficult for a layman to check facts and film critic Kim Newman in a review suggested that Bono and the boys had more than a little input in to the soundtrack . The title of the film does of course come from a track from their 1991 masterwork album Achtung Baby so you can understand where I'm coming from . On top of that Newman suggested this was road movie meets the apocalypse and I do love speculative fiction and being vaguely aware of Wim Wenders who did a strange twist on the serial killer thriller genre THE GOALKEEPERS FEAR OF THE PENALTY . On top of that it does contain several well known names in the shape of Hurt , Neill and Von Sydow. It surely can't have been a bad film in that case? An Indian nuclear satellite spins out of orbit and threatens to destroy the world so what does everyone do ? They stand around discussing their lives and the human condition . Is this logical ? Probably not . Is it compelling in any way ? Definitely not . This is really tedious stuff with the plot aimlessly wandering about . If you think there's a subtext to this where the plot line is mirroring the characters in the film I suggest you stop taking university film courses and try and find something more productive in life . I'm not being cruel just pointing out that this is the type of film that only gets produced to appeal to students and film snobs . I'm not defending the rubbish that Michael Bay and the rest of Hollywood churn out but there comes a point where the average audience member has had enough of slow moving brooding introspection and hope the film ends before the world does Apart from having a severe lack of anything to hold the interest of the audience there's a painfully unrealistic depiction of the very near future . In the 1991 depiction of 1999 nearly everyone wears a hat . In the real world of 1999 the only people wearing hats were chavs sporting baseball caps so the film has got that minor detail wrong and a major detail about having a machine that can capture dreams . Perhaps the worst mistake with hindsight is Wenders claiming the soundtrack reflects the type of music the featured artists would be performing in 1999 . This patently unlikely especially where U2 were concerned . In 1999 they were working on All You Can't Leave Behind which was a departure from their 1990s material so I'm afraid Wenders got that one wrong same as he seems to have misjudged everything else about the film

I find this film to be beyond description - in some ways it is dated - the car map system looked cool when nobody had GPS. It reflects the visions of the cyberpunk literature and cultural movements of the late '80s and early '90s, which has some relevance, but has morphed beyond recognition.In actual 1999, I found a great prophetic irony in the opening lines: "1999 was the year the Indian Nuclear Satellite went out of control. No one knew where it might land. It soared above the ozone layer like a lethal bird of prey. The whole world was alarmed..."I rewrote them to reflect the actual reality: 1999 was the year the dot com and Y2K bug hype went out of control. No one knew where it might end. It soared above our corporate servers and venture-capital-burn-rate like a lethal bird of prey. The whole world was alarmed...So there are some decently interesting science fiction aspects to this movie, but I would say that this is actually the ultimate art film as road movie. Just see "Wings Of Desire" if you don't think Wenders is an art film director. Of course I have to give it extra points just for spending extra time in one of my favorite world-class bars - the Tosca.Even though this is a cyberpunk sci-fi film, and an art film and a road film, it manages ultimately to be introspectively psychological (as do all Wenders films that I have seen so far). I cannot watch this movie without shedding at least a tear for the beautiful and talented Solveig Dommarten, whose career and life were cut far too short. I see other reviews talking about the lack of story. This movie is better watched as painting - the title or theme may be short, but it unfolds in the tasting of the experience of the images, some of which were pretty striking in 1991. I thought the theatrical release was pretty good at the time, but if you can, slow down and watch the 5 hour trilogy version (a third at a time).

after great movies like Wings of Desire and Goalkeeper's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick, for instance, Wenders decided to TRASH his whole reputation with a god-awful, cornball, cheesy, Sprockets, ridiculous (f)artsy nonsense.The dramatic premise of a satellite threatening the world is upended by a ridiculously implausible and synthetic scenario. Nothing in this movie feels real or possible, and the Euro-trash clichés, effete noir ideas, and absurd storyline makes it a risible piece of bad art.It feels like a very long bad 1980s music video for Madonna or Dick Tracy movie, with Euro-Sprockets coming at you from every direction.Only the music is good.