Winnetou - Der letzte Kampf (2016) User Reviews

Third part of the ¨Blood Brothers¨: Winnetou and Old Shatterland trilogy and revolving around their enjoyable relationship

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 8 January 2018]

Agreeable return to Winnetou and Old Shatterhand, unforgettable characters written by Karl May , including a dramatic denouement . It's the regular plot concerning an Indian tribe stranded by hostile White Men ; then hard-bitten Winnetou and Old Shatterhand are close to establish peace between settlers and natives . A dark secret lies beneath Apache land threatening its future , there are lots of oil . It belongs to a trilogy-remake well starred by Nik Xhelilaj as Winnetou and Wotan Wilke as Karl May named afterwards Old Shatterhand replacing the classic roles starred by Pierre Brice and Lex Barker . Besides , here appears other notorious secondaries as Michael Maertens and the veteran Mario Adorf who played in the vintage series . It stars Woman Wilke as Karl May , same name to novel's author , an ex railway engineer , subsequently named Shatterhand who falls in love for Nacho Tschi : Lazua Larios , Winnetou sister , and Shaman of the tribe Apache . And Winnetou who forms a strong Comradeship and Friendship with the German railroad engineer . When the White men invade Indian territory , the Apaches led by Winnetou attack the invaders . Problems emerge when an actor-gunfighter called Frederick Louis Santer Jr -Michael Maertens- tries to take over the Indian lands . Later on , Winnetou and Shatterhand are accusded for killing , ahd wanted , Reward : 1000 Dollars , Dead or alive . Winnetou get forced to search for the precious help other Indians : Comanches , Sioux , by their evil opponent . At the end happens a breathtaking confrontation on an oil rig and at a cottage against the rampaging enemies , adding some spectacular scenes that result to be the Highlights of the movie along with the tragic and sensitive ending .

Gritty and decently written Western in which our two protagonists attempt to make peace , only to come across more obstacles . Exploring the anguish of Winnetou and Old Shattherhand when are banished their lands from an extremely nasty cutthroat , magnetically played by Michael Maertens , and including jarring bursts of violence . This is an exciting tale of a nutty actor and killer gunslinger , Michael Maertens , assembling a detail of misfit outlaws to hold-off Indians against Winnetou and Shatterhand . This is a moving story about a surrounded Apache tribe and director takes a fine penned script creating an Indians tale that is far from ordinary , exploring the anguish and desperation of the natives . This Western is predictable and conventional but entertaining . Third entry and the best of a recent trilogy based on the famous saga written by Karl May starred by the chief Apache Winnetou and the German adventurer Old Shatterhand, being well produced by Rat Pack and Rialto with its producer Wendlandt . Glimmer and exciting western that contains adventures, action , crossfire, and gorgeous Yugoslavian exteriors excelently photographed in which takes place the first emotive meeting between Winnetou and Shatterhand incarnated by new and attractive actors . As Nik SHelilaj bears remarkable resemblance to Pierre Brice, as physical as acting. However, Wotan Wilke does not look like Lex Barker or Stewart Granger. This agreeable saga benefits itself from marvelous scenarios , shootouts , and larger-than-life roles.

The film displays colorful and rousing cinematography with wonderful outdoors . Being shot in similar Yugoslavia landscapes from Pierre Brice/Lex Barker series , paying a nice tribute to the vintage movies . As well as a catching musical score , including the classic Ballad: the Winnetou's melody by Martín Bottcher, composer of the saga of the sixties . The motion picture was well directed by Philipp Stolzl who was born in Múnich , Bavaria , Germany . He has made this new reboot trilogy about Winnetou formed by three good and sympathetic flicks . He has directed many music videos of international superstars such as Madonna or Garbage and he made Faith No More's music video "Stripsearch", shot in Berlin (1997). His Rammstein video "Stripped" was banned, being considered Nazi propaganda (1998). He formerly directed successes movies as The Physician, Erased, Goethe and Nordwand.

The weakest from the trilogy

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 3 January 2017]

"Der letzte Kampf" is the third and final movie from the Winnetou reboot trilogy last year made by director Philipp Stölzl and writer Jan Berger, who of course adapted Karl May's work here. It is the longest of the films as it is the only one that runs for over two hours, even if just slightly. Möhring, Xhelilaj, Larios and Peschel return of course from the previous films, but they once again go with the idea of introducing new villains for this film too. And while Vogel, Masucci and Yardim were rock-solid in the older films, I cannot say the same about Maertens. This, however, has more to do with the way he was written than with his performance to be honest. They also followed the tradition of bringing back old actors from the old Winnetou movies and here Mario Adorf has a couple scenes playing the antagonist's father. But this connection is also a major problem. Sometimes they make it look as if Adorf plays the main villain, then again the opposite. It is never clear what he really thinks of his son. He seems to despise his weakness, yet he gets him out of jail. Obviously he plays a very powerful man. But lets be honest: How can we take a character seriously as the main villain if he gets slapped and pushed around by his dad in the first couple minutes.

The film moves back and forth between Maertens' character's plan to get his dad to appreciate him and his sinister actions that have pretty much nothing to do with his father. And in both areas, it was underwhelming. I will not go a whole lot more into detail, but let me just mention one particular reference, namely the one about becoming the American President, which felt completely out of place on every occasion and it also did nothing in terms of what they intended with it, namely the son making the father proud. It was such an absurd theory and it would have been better of Adorf's character had made fun of his son for it but they actually wanted us to take this seriously. So completely aside from that, the title already tells us that there will be a final battle for somebody important to the story and that tragedy may (or may not) ensure. I won't go much into detail. I just want to say that I did not like the ending either. Crowning a white man as the new tribe leader may seem daring in theory, but it did not even offer half the depth I would have liked because it felt really random and included just for the sake of it. Not worthy closure to the trilogy.

Overall, this was not a good watch. It drags on several occasions and I felt that this movie loses itself an special effects and spectacular scenes far too many times, something that was done perfectly right in the two previous films. They had depth and solid writing as well as character development plus the antagonists were far more interesting. I am kinda glad that the mini series ends after these two hours as they may have jumped the shark with this final installment already. This is especially sad for Adorf who is once again a scene-stealer and probably by far the most talented cast member, even over the age of 85. His screen presence is still undeniable, even at his age. But he is the only somewhat decent factor about this film that is sometimes weak and sometimes mediocre, but almost never shines. I give it a thumbs-down and I am disappointed it did not turn out as good as the previous two.