Schimanski was such a successful character in the long running Tatort series that in the eighties he was granted two outings in the cinema. The adavantage was of course a much larger budget but with both films that didn't really translate into quality. They had the money to have Joe Cocker do the title song but had it written by third rate hacks (except for Klaus Lage) that make Dieter Bohlen sound like Mozart. Essentially, the weakest point of both films is the writing. Zabou doesn't really have much of a story but more an excuse for a string of car chases and fight scenes. Maybe the director should not have asked his brother to write the screenplay. It's preditable and a good writer would have certainly helped to make it more intelligent but as an action film it works fine particularly for German standards. The car chases are really well made but some of the fight scenes look extremely amateurish. All in all the film works surprinsingly well and provides good entertainment for 90 minutes. There are some very well made atmospheric shots of Duisburg and particvularly the location of the last scene is spectacular. However you can't help thinking that in a way it is a missed opportunity due to he sub standard writing which the later Schmanski episodes show. What they lack in action the make up interms of quality of the stories.
