Jan Hranac I've been trying to sort my feelings out about this film for about two years. When I saw it for first time, I've had my "shooter's ID" already (I'm from Czech republic). I wasn't able to CC yet but I've expanded my "SID" shortly afterward and I started to see the world of guns in an entirely different light and started to learn some skills and develop habits which I didn't need before.However, this isn't just about my relationship with guns, it's also about my relationship with Germans and Germany. You could say that my dislike for Germans was (I repeat, was) as old as my knowledge of the history of my own country. As I grew older, my dislike for them abated and I've come to realize that that it isn't important what did they do to my country in past but what can their influence mean for Europe, especially for my country and our guns in future. In other words, this film spoke to me on two personal levels. One is the deteriorating political situation in Germany. The other is the attitude of German politicians towards guns. I believe that this film is raising some important points in both regards.However, there's a third level which I've began to see only after repeated watching and increase in my own aptitude. There's something very important about the gunfight scenes: They have a very high degree of fidelity. It's obvious that Til Schweiger is either a recreational shooter or that he underwent some kind of a crash course. Everything from drawing, shooting, and reloading to using a cover or shooting from various positions. There was even a scene involving an empty shell jammed during ejection. One might say that the shooter took a little bit long to correct the malfunction but let's be honest, I would completely freak out in such a situation (as a matter of fact, such a thing has never happened to me because I'm using guns from Uhersky Brod). I've discussed this film with one of my instructors and he agreed that about 80 percent of the film is accurate.I don't know why Americans don't bother with this in their films. After all, they have even closer relationship with guns than we do. Maybe that's the reason - the have personal experience with guns and don't need accurate films as a result. They just want to kick their shoes off and watch fairy tales about heroes with absolutely terrible technique.On a side note, I've found the acting and everything else quite good. The interactions between the Schweigers was simply magical. What does it matter that she's actually his daughter in real life? It's the result that counts!

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "Schutzengel" or "Better Angel" or "Guardian Angel" is a 2012 movie directed by, written by and starring Til Schweiger. He made this one between the two "Kokowääh" movies. And while Emma Schweiger is the star of these, Til's other daughter Luna is the star here. And even if she is considerably older, she is still the less talented one. I liked how they took the spice out of a scene when his daughter asked him if he would stay with her for the night by including a smelly feet joke afterward. But obviously, she is not his daughter in the movie. Also she is by far not the only Schweiger family member in "Schutzengel". The main antagonist is played by Heiner Lauterbach, but it is really nothing he has not shown before already. I liked the guy who played his lawyer early on. Nice performance. Schweiger himself does not appear until minute 15 roughly, but that's not a problem as the movie runs for considerably longer then two hours. The rest of the cast is known too: Axel Stein, Hannah Herzsprung, Moritz Bleibtreu, Herbert Knaup, Katharina Schüttler, Rainer Bock and Karoline Schuch support Schweiger and his daughter. Quite a few of them are killed by the villains, so we won't forget who the real hero is. Bleibtreu's encounter with the villain was pretty good, but everything else about him before that was stereotypical and forgettable. The very first attack (including Herzsprung's character) reminded me a bit of Léon with Jean Reno.It's a bit refreshing to see Schweiger in something other than a romantic comedy with drama aspects this time (he usually covers the action thriller genre in American productions), but sadly it gets old fairly quickly and the second half is worse than the first. They easily could have held that film around the 100-minute mark and deleted a couple of the less significant scenes. At the very end, it seems like they are not even trying anymore when Schweiger talks some poetic nonsense and we don't see how he kills all the villains afterward. Maybe the filmmakers thought that we have already had enough gun action and they were actually right. Sadly, this ending is not good at all either. Box-office-wise, this film was not as much of a hit as Schweiger's other works behind the camera, but that is probably not the biggest surprise as the whole topic of protecting a witness is not as family friendly as his other stuff. And apart from that, the film also has a handful more weaknesses in terms of the story. For example, it's so random and unrealistic that he, all of a sudden, runs into his ex-girlfriend who is the public prosecutor in this case. Or Luna Schweiger's silent scream at the end is pretty bad as she has no clue at all what is going on exactly with her protector this very moment. Or did they have an invisible bond all of a sudden? I don't think so. The worst, most cringeworthy moment, however, was "Don't f*ck with the wrong people!" Not the first time, a random English quote appears all of a sudden in a Schweiger movie and so far it has always been laughable, even if it may fit the situation.This film could have been quite a lot of fun if they had not taken themselves so seriously. You could have forgiven them for the unrealistic parts. Sadly, they want you to take this movie seriously and with that approach, it is not a good viewing experience. Not recommended.

Ignacio Mandoble I must recognize that the photography, the camera work and the music is nice, but I found the story very disappointing. I find the film full of unnecessary violence, like if if the bullets where the message and not just a tool in the story. The actions scenes are just too long, but they don t get to be shocking, nor caricatures. The plot, supposedly happening in Germany, lacks credibility. The story follows the same universal patterns from any action history (villains, corrupt official, reluctant heroes), but it really insist on jumping into the German over and over again, so in that sense it should be a story more coherent with how life, crime, violence and military life is in that country. The characters, the dialogs and the action scenes really show like they tried just too hard to look like an American movie. There is also not a true conflict and the villains lack of good acting or deep personalities. Dialogues are predictable, as the characters dilemmas. I was expecting an stronger antagonist, but instead of that , the screenwriter opted for giving more space to secondary characters. Despite that, I must also recognize that Til Schweiger acting is good and Moritz Bleibtreu is an excellent actor and his character really good. At the end, is not gonna compete against the great drama-action movies, but is a good movie to have some fun and practice German.

Dominik Schlatter The man (Schweiger) does good work. I would describe it as an action thriller with some typical schweiger-ish sweetness added. The audience gets both impressive action and quiet scenes that change the pace of the movie. I think the mix works. The story is pretty simple and we never have to guess who the villain is. (Much like a Luc Besson movie. Black and white.) This is what I liked about the movie:One. The cinematography is just beautiful. Carefully filmed scenes with strong (for lack of a better word:) audio effects. Well, it sounds great when people shoot. You'll notice.Two. The heroes and villains reload their guns and the hero doesn't hit every target with every shot. A trivial detail? Not for me. I hate it when people fire 30 shots with a 15-round clip. Or if their shotguns magically fire 16 times. Thank you Til Schweiger for taking the time to reload! You are one of the few.Three. The action doesn't try to come off as super cool. We don't see any of that stupid rolling-on-the-floor-while-shooting, jumping-behind-a-couch-in-slow-motion-for-effect, cheesy one-liners, showy re-loadings, bourne-identity-grade-fighting-scenes (everybody is a black belt these days) or cars-exploding-(for no reason)-after-being-shot-at!Do you know what I mean? 8 is maybe too generous, but a 6 would be too low. Watch it and decide for yourself.