The Good German (DVD review)

Last December "The Good German" was one of my most anticipated new releases. I eagerly awaited to see Steven Soderbergh's WWII film shot solely with equipment used during the 1940s. Unfortunately however, it played on one screen in Seattle for only three weeks. Usually that doesn't stop me, but in this particular case it just wasn't in the cards. But now with the DVD release all I needed to do was head over to Blockbuster.
"The Good German" is a throwback not only through its use of WWII equipment and black and white film, but also in tone and style. Soderbergh and screenwriter Paul Attanasio (TV's "Homicide") create a noir with a style of dialogue (except for the constant f-bombs) that would fit right into 1945, the year the film takes place. It tells the story of U.S. Army Captain Jacob Geismer as he comes to Berlin just after the war in Europe has come to an end. His driver while he is in Berlin, clean cut all-American boy Patrick Tully (Tobey Maguire), is not who he seems. And it doesn't take long for Jacob to realize that Patrick is currently with his old girlfriend, Lena Brandt (Cate Blanchett). To say much more would be to spoil a surprising twist that comes pretty early on in the movie, but suffice it to say that less than a half hour in Jacob has a murder to solve.
Ultimately I was pretty disappointed by "The Good German." The story isn't terribly involving and neither is the way its told. Less than a week after I declared that "Ocean's Thirteen" was a return to form for Soderbergh I see just how right I was. "German," (his most recent film prior to "Thirteen") is hardly a worthy addition to his filmography. This isn't to say that it's a bad film, but it certainly isn't very good. Stylistically it isn't as satisfying as I had hoped. The '40s feel of the movie never quite comes off as it should. It probably doesn't help that it still has a modern day sensibility. (That may not make a lot of sense and I'm not quite sure how to explain it but if you watch the movie I think you'll see what I'm talking about.) Acting wise it's hit and miss. Clooney and Blanchett are just fine. Blanchett especially seems like she really could have been an actress in the 1940s. Proof once again of how terrific she really is. Maguire however just doesn't fit at all. I like him just fine in "Seabiscuit" and the first two "Spider-Man" movies, but he doesn't belong here.
Overall, worth watching if you're curious about it, but don't feel like you really need to. If anything it shows us that "Casablanca" is one of the greatest films ever made for reasons beyond being shot in black and white. 6/10