Faktor 8 - Der Tag ist gekommen (2009 TV Movie) User Reviews

Not Germany's worst catastrophe movie, but that does not mean much

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 16 December 2018]

"Faktor 8 - Der Tag ist gekommen" or just "Factor 8" is a German small screen movie from 2009, so this one has its 10th anniversary next year and the names Matsutani and Roeskau may be known to some German film buffs I assume, even if this one here is certainly not their brightest filmmaking hour unfortunately. It runs for 90 minutes like pretty much most German television releases and the fact that this was made for ProSieben should not really give one hope. Well, the good news is that if you watch the film merely for entertainment, maybe even guilty pleasure reasons, then it is an acceptable watch in my opinion. However, the problem is the makers here actually wanted you to take it seriously and that is a real problem because pretty much nothing depicted in here makes sense or feels authentic in a way that it could have happened like this in reality. It is about an airplane coming from Thailand, in which several passengers show symptomes of an illness and as the film progresses we find out it is a deadly virus. So of course airport security and also politicians later on cannot let them land because they would perhaps infect the people in the country and it could become a national epidemic as a consequence. So action switches between inside and outside of the plane, between the passengers and politicians, scientists and many others outside. All in need of a solution. Well, the drama is a bit cringeworthy sometimes, especially when we get one antagonist after the next: be it the politicians who debate about eliminating the plane and everybody inside, or a cop gone rogue or a young brute on the plane with a knife losing it. It's all a bit ridiculous admittedly. The virus is shown so deadly and yet Baumeister's character recivers so quickly, while everybody else dies almost within minutes. The most embarrassingly hilarious moment was probably when those doctors kill several flight guests with their antidote which has not been picked wisely. The ending was a bit bold because it was not as happy as you could expect, but then again using a few words depicted on screen to give the film an entirely new turn that we don't even get to witness is debatable gently-speaking to say the least. It is a bit of a pity how this turned out because the cast list offers some solid performers in my opinion, but they are wasted through the weak script we got here. Also the film falls completely flat on the emotional side. You never feel for the characters or hope they will get out alive. Still kinda good decision to kill off several characters here, nothing you see too often in German harmony-focused films, even if the subject is so serious. But yeah I mentioned the ending already earlier. that was really a bad joke. In reality they would have let the people leave the plane, but here yeah just lets fly everybody south won't we because we were all having such a wonderful time on board. Also what's with the virus. It gets more dangerous by the minute, then proves in the third generation or so to be irrelevant and at the end, it is super dangerous again back and forth. They say it will need rather months than weeks to solve all this and have them leave the plane. Went pretty fast for this explanation didn't it? So yeah, no matter which perspective you take, story-wise this film was an utter joke honestly, but overall I think the other two reviewers are a bit too harsh here. I would certainly not give this film a positive recommendation, but it's not an utter failure. Still I suggest unless you are into trashy European catastrophe films (and God knows there are many), you should skip the watch here and go for something else instead.

Incredibly bad research work

[daPeda · 2/10 · 5 October 2009]

This movie is about a presumed virus outbreak during a flight from south Asia to Munich. Most of all, the scientific premise is utterly wrong. Retroviruses is shown as multiplying in erythrocytes, which lack a) DNA (necessary for retrovirus replication) and b) the enzymatic apparatus for multiplying any viral nucleic acids.

Some other basics are mentioned at some time in act 1, but completely ignored later on. Most of all, the virus being transported via air conditioning.

Lots of small glitches, incredible acting, improbable dialogs and reactions of characters.

After all, it does have some suspense, otherwise I would have rated it "1".

Unbelievably bad movie

[maky_c_tr · 2/10 · 1 July 2013]

I can only suggest watching this movie because one must experience going through the most pointless storyline ever. It is amazing how the whole movie makes no sense. One thing is a plot twist, and completely another absurd, meaningless ending.

There is no quality dialogs nor quotes, a lot of constrained situations, many beginnings without endings, many unexplained moments.

Many times screened story, but in case of "Faktor 8" lousy job done. Although at the beginning the movie seems promising, later on you realize that there is only one way to finish the story. As the end of the movie was approaching the story was falling apart until it finally crumbled up in the last minute.

Disappointingly predictable.