60 minutos

SIXTY MINUTES is a fun little low budget martial arts thriller from Germany. It's made on the cheap but don't hold that against it because this has far more suspense and excitement than many a big budget Hollywood movie, riddled as they are with needless CGI and explosions. This one has a straightforward plot about a top MMA fighter who abandons his latest match in favour of spending time with his daughter, but various match-fixing gangsters are determined to stop him. There are slow spots and overdone emotion amid the action, but the fights come thick and fast and the choreography is always satisfying.

If there is one thing that is cool with streaming services despite being someone who still very well enjoy his physical movies format, its that little obscure movies like these would had probably never goes over my radar.

This popped on Netflix recently and i think its a German movie, well it happen in Berlin. I watched the movie dubbed in French, wich is another thing that would had been very unlikely to see during the "direct to dvd" era for a resident of Quebec like myself. A movie like this dubbed in french and released here. But i digress.

The general plot of the movie is one of the most simple ever. A father wich is about to fight in MMA against an opponent that is late has to throw everything off because he must reach his daughter in a certain ammount of time, otherwise her mom will try to remove his right to see her.

The issue is even tough the movie time itself fit with the 1h premise, you really have the impression the guy spend like 3h or more trying to get back to his daughter. There is no way he would had been able to do all of this in 1h. Unless the arena, his gym, and his ex house are basically at 10m of walk from each others.

So you look at it and think "why didn't he just fough the guy". Because there is no way the fight in the cage would had last longer than all that he goes trough. Basically the plot has more holes than a Swiss cheese.

BUT where the movie shine is with the action/fights. There is plenty of them, and they are pretty well done. Its solid choreography and good camera work. The movie never really slow its pace where you can start thinking about all the flaws of the plot. I only did after i was done with it and reading some other reviews.

So if you just want a cool martial arts flick while drinking a few beers, this movie is perfect for that, thus why i give it the score i did.

Saying that a movie is "not for the critics, but for the fans" means usually "I know I made a bad movie, but I don't wanna admit it". Nobody said it about 60 MINUTEN, but "for the fans" applies here in the best possible way.

This a movie for people who appreciate the ridiculousness of certain action movie tropes. People who are willing to laugh WITH the movie and not at it. It's pretty obvious that everybody involved here was on the same page. The movie's plot revolves basically around an unstoppable fighter who pisses off the whole Berlin underworld, because he can't miss his daughter's birthday party. And yet, it is all played completely straight faced and with the gravitas of a serious drama.

Apart from that, 60 MINUTEN also scores with really well done fights, full of long takes and impressive stunts, and a good semi-real time gimmick. I think they could've pushed the "What else is gonna happen to make him miss his deadline" angle a bit further though. On the other hand: They have an action movie that takes place in Berlin and have a fight in a bunker looking Techno club. They "understood the assignment", as the kids say these days.

Now don't get me wrong. As much as I enjoyed it, giving it 8 stars is for me a bit generous. It doesn't do anything innovative or outstanding. It is "just" 100% solid. BUT! It is German and Germans rarely have the chance to do action movies like that. So making one that can stand toe to toe with a good bunch of modern day US actioners is good enough for the prestigious 8 star rating IMO.

While there are a lot of familiar elements here, this movie feels different and fresher than a lot of the action movies getting released these days. You feel the main characters pain (both physical and mental) over the course of his journey to see his daughter.

The action is well choreographed and realistic, and the plot moves at a good pace, with some good emotional moments in between. It feels like a perfect run time that doesn't out stay it's welcome at less than 90 minutes. The ending is a little neat, but action movies aren't exactly known for their realism so it's somewhat forgivable. The final image put a smile on my face, just being a little different than the norm.

The lead actor does a great job, while the supporting cast manages well with the little time the movie devotes to them.

Worth a watch!

An action film with decent, noble and not so strange desire to offer more than impressive fights and some tension.

A MMA fighter decides , in special circumstances, to be with his daughter in the day of her birthday.

Many and not easy obstacles. His determination, sacrifices and phonecalls .

And, in the skin of cliches and familiar situations, a story with few just nice sentimental sparkles.

Easy to judge it not just polite, its story works little more than decent, the acting is reasonable and the sentimental side not bad crafted.

So, not a wrong idea to see it , including the reserves about action films. Because, far to be memorable, it proposes a sort of life lesson, indeed, with idealistic touch and a lot of unrealism, at the first sight who , in large lines, has the virtue to reflect situation of many fathers, consequences of life between work and family , the responsability, evoked by his father, in short, maybe not exactly as pretext.