Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

fung0 Some reviewers seem to think Revanche is a failure as a 'thriller.' Of course, this merely identifies their failure as viewers. Revanche is not remotely a thriller, or a crime drama, or a tale of revenge, or suspense. It's more a story of lost love, of sorrow and regret. And - as the title cleverly implies - of *possible* redemption.As I watched Revanche, I inevitably formed certain ideas about where it was headed. Each of those ideas was in turn dispelled. Only late in the experience did I see where the director was taking me, a conclusion of perfect, poetic inevitability. You literally have to see the whole film to properly know what it's about.Yes, Revanche is EXTREMELY low-key and slow-paced. It helps if you realize that its real content is not in the action at all - it's in the silences between actions. It's in the mood, in the elegant photography. Focus your attention there and you'll soon realize that this is essentially a simple story, told simply and economically. (To say more would be to give away too much.)Obviously, you do need to have some patience to enjoy a story that unravels so slowly and subtly. But if you do, you'll be rewarded beyond your expectations.

SnoopyStyle Alex is an ex-con muscle in a brothel. He's in love with Ukrainian prostitute Tamara. She still owes money while he needs money to buy into a bar in Ibiza. They go to rob a bank and make a getaway. Police officer Robert finds Tamara waiting in the getaway car. Alex returns after the bank job and Robert shots at the fleeing couple. Tamara is killed, Robert is guilt-ridden and Alex hides out at his grandfather Hausner's farm. Alex discovers Robert is living nearby and has an affair with his wife Susanne.I really love the direction of the first part of the movie. When Tamara gets killed, the movie loses a bit of steam for me. I don't find Robert's guilt that compelling and therefore his marriage not that compelling either. It also doesn't help that they aren't in the movie until much later. Robert's police relationship seems wrong. I think they're investigating him for manslaughter and anybody in his position would be treated by a psychiatrist. Although I understand the attempt for a Greek tragedy, I don't really buy it. The first half is terrific and the second half has a few problems.

thisissubtitledmovies Celebrated Austrian writer and director Götz Spielmann's 2008 revenge thriller Revanche premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival to critical acclaim. It won and was nominated for numerous international film awards, including a nomination for the 2009 Acadamy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.With Revanche, Speilmann has crafted a stylish, tasteful film with an awful lot in its favour. Unfortunately, too often it doesn't quite hang together as it should, the plot strays into the realms of far-fetched and contrived, and it feels that too often Speilmann is reliant on old standard clichés rather than striving to plough new furrows. Definitely a director to watch, but sadly Revanche's faults stop it from being the brilliant thriller it could - and should - have been. LB

bandw If you were to read in the paper that a man had robbed a local bank and, as he drove away in the getaway car, a woman in the passenger seat had been shot and killed by an off-the-mark shot from a policeman, you would probably think, "Well that's unfortunate, if someone had to get killed, it should have been the robber." That snap judgment is probably as far as you would take it, or about as far as you could take it, with limited facts. But, as this movie illustrates, the details of such an incident and its aftermath can be surprising and interesting.The movie starts with Alex and Tamara working in a seedy Vienna brothel. Tamara is an attractive Ukranian and it is easy to see why Alex has fallen for her. The realistic behind the scenes look at the brothel, run by a tyrannical pimp, was enough for me to understand why Alex and Tamara were desperate to escape and, when Alex proposed the bank robbery, I could well understand his motivation, since it was not going to be easy for either Alex or Tamara to get out of the rather sorry state they were in.What sets this thriller apart is that we get to know all of the main players--Alex, Tamara, the policeman and his wife, and Alex's grandfather-- as believable people. Their interactions are well motivated and understandable.As the title suggests, the movie has important things to say about revenge, about snap judgments and false assumptions.I found some of the filming techniques interesting. Early on the camera lingered on certain scenes, like a path into some trees or an alleyway, that left me puzzled. The answers to these little teasers appeared later in the film.I did not know any of the actors, but I found them all to be well cast and quite good.