The new German thriller “Sixty Minutes” lives or dies on the back of its brutal, sometimes bloody brawls, which push mixed martial arts mayhem in the movies to a new level.
The beatdowns, punchups and kickdowns are savagely-staged and breathlessly-photographed and edited. And while we’re allowed to weigh if any human being could survive this pummeling, much less get back up and run until he has to fight again, it isn’t realism that director and co-writer Oliver Kienle was going for.
The melodramatic set-up is loaded with eye-rollers. And the pace lags as our hero, with “Sixty Minutes” to parkour and punch his way across Berlin, sometimes loses that sense of urgency that’s attached to his mission.
But the fights? They’re something else.
It’s basically a “Run Lola Run” riff with MMA and parkour decor, rarely pulse-pounding but with every fight a visceral immersion in the moment for the viewer.
Actor/martial artist Emilio Sakraya is “Octa,” which could be short for “octagon” as that’s how he makes his living. Octavio is a bleached-blond MMA fighter facing a big test against the hulking Benko (Aristo Luis). He’s antsy, lashing-out during his warmups with his trainer, Cosima (Maire Mouroum), a Greek Fury in fighting tights who’s worried he’s going to punch himself out before the bell.
Benko is making everybody wait. And wait. Considering how much money is riding on the fight, manager Paul (Dennis Mojen) may be the most nervous of all. Everyone in this corner really needs the cash.
But the delays have Octa fuming. It’s his little girl’s birthday, and he’s promised A) that he’ll be there, B) that he’s bringing a cake and C) that he has a “present” which the child doesn’t realize is to be this animal shelter kitten named “Onion” (“Zwiebel” in German, as the film is in German or dubbed into English, etc.).
“I don’t want to take too many shots” in the fight is his big worry. He doesn’t want the seven-year-old to see Daddy all bruised and bloody.
When the fight’s finally on, they hey get to the venue. But nobody’s tough enough to take Octa’s phone from him. His perpetual absence has his little girl in tears. His ex and her lawyer-boyfriend tell him they’re suing for sole custody if he can’t get there by six, “Sixty Minutes” from now.
When Octa bolts, who’s going to stop the brute? It turns out, a whole LOT of people are interested in that bout he’s bailing on, a whole LOT of people with martial arts skills, Lincoln Navigators and Hummers and pistols have a whole LOT of “skin” in this “game.”
Octa must steal taxis from paying customers, hurdle car-hoods and clambor over walls, dash through subway stations and underground clubs, get grabbed by first one group and then another, and remember to…pick up that cake and get to the animal shelter to fetch little Zwiebel der kitten.
The story’s a bit much. But what we’re here for are the fights — the choke-out that four guys have to administer to get Octa in that Lincoln, the mayhem that ensues when he wakes up, with throwdown after throwdown with mobster Chino (Paul Wollin), the beefy Winkel (Florian Schmidtke) and their minions keeping Octa from his date with little Leonie (Morik Maya Heydo).
The story keeps adding layers of unnecessary “complications” and motivations for these over-zealous mobsters, money borrowed from more mobsters on up and down the line. Octa isn’t hearing that, but the birthday party stakes seem awfully low to account for all this violence.
And such violence! My favorite bit might be how little zip-tying him to a chair slows Octa down, although that early fight in the Navigator seems hardest to top. The idea that “We don’t want him HURT” because they need this fight to come off is abandoned pretty quickly. But Octa (sort of) takes care not to use his lethal hands and feet in a lethal enough way for the useless cops he approaches for help to have an excuse to lock him up.
He checks his watch and sees the minutes ticking down. Can he catch a break?
At the end of that hour, we’ve seen a bit of Berlin on film, gasped at some of the action beats, tasted a lot of blood and wondered if the Germans call “German chocolate cake” just “cake” (“kuchen”)? Is that enough? To some fans, maybe.
Rating: TV-MA, incredibly violent, some profanity
Cast: Emilio Sakraya, Marie Mouroum, Paul Wollin, Aristo Luis, Florian Schmidtke and Dennis Mojen.
Credits: Directed by Oliver Kienle, scripted by Oliver Kienle and Philip Koch. A Netflix release.
Running time: 1:29
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