The Keep

I was deciding between two and three stars because, from my subjective point of view, it's more like 2 and a half. In its time, it would definitely be three strong stars, but the quality of special effects, as expected, became outdated from the first half of the 80s, and this type of film partly relies on them. The first Terminator was made practically at the same time, but unlike it, The Keep is just a weak B-movie. Genre-wise, this film can be described as dark fantasy with some horror elements, but to today's horror fans, it will probably seem too bloodless, and for fantasy lovers, not spectacular enough. The atmosphere in some moments cannot be denied because Michael Mann is simply too talented of a director. However, the screenplay dilutes in the second half of the film, and the finale is too digital and fades into nothing. Throughout most of the runtime, I had the feeling that much more could have been achieved from this idea with a little goodwill from the producer and crew. I also prefer when stories like this are set within a functional historical framework. Film viewers are usually not experts in history, but in the late summer of 1941, Romanian Jews were certainly not being sent to concentration camps; Romania was a respected ally of Germany with several units on the Eastern Front, and while the Romanian government was conservative and monarchist, it was certainly not fascist, and if not for the conflict over today's Moldavia, Romania would definitely not go to war against the Soviet Union. Therefore, German soldiers had no reason to patrol a Romanian pass thousands of kilometers away from the front... Overall impression: 40%. (04/05/2009)

As a horror comedy, somewhat problematic as a mysterious spectacle, but surprisingly successful as a war drama. Michael Mann didn't deny his talent for improving suspicious-looking scripts, and with the help of an ethereal soundtrack and Ian McKellen's indescribably charismatic performance, even though he speaks with a plastic blinking figurine, he managed to create an interesting atmosphere, albeit occasionally faltering due to the lack of a defined genre. However, I wouldn't search for the potential of a masterpiece like "Unforgiven" in this cursed stronghold. (03/05/2009)

Michael Mann in the early days. A rather timeworn, slowly told story, but filmed with atmosphere. In terms of acting, the picture is quite passable and so the only serious problem are the rather old-fashioned special effects and, mainly, the book the movie is based on, because it simply sets the bar too high. Outstanding as a well-made eighties B-movie, but as an adaptation of one of the best genre books, this is a bit of an insult. (22/01/2007)

An atmospheric, not completely traditional B-movie with a superbly gloomy story. Mann’s style starts waving at you already in the title sequence with the arrival of the Nazis at the fortress and peeps out in each really good scene. I was a little surprised with the strange work with music, because that is usually Mann’s strong side. But here, crazy synthesizers boom away in pretty weird passages and sometimes it is disruptive more than helping to complement the visual action. No flaws in terms of acting, but apart from McKellen and Glenn the remaining ensemble didn’t get much of a look in. I mean, Jürgen Prochnow and Gabriel Byrne could certainly have got more involved in the action. As for effects, they seemed pretty impressive for a movie from the 80s. (03/05/2009)

The filmmaker's beginnings are very difficult, especially when he is shooting a horror film from a cardboard Romanian village with a plasterboard fortress, in which, in addition to the well-groomed Nazis, an ill-disguised Ian McKellen and a kind of runaway anatomical model of human muscles appear. The horror scenes are without doubt just as scary as the TV creations based on the motifs of Mr. Vašíček, the directing is indeed cruelly careless, sloppy and seldom reveals that Mann is a filmmaker with a distinctive vision. Actors in confusingly written roles have no chance to impress, and Scott Glenn literally feels like a bad joke. This is all accompanied by a hellishly archaic "casio" prelude to the TANGERINE group, and one cannot help but be upset that it wasn’t even stupider. Because this is not even a guilty pleasure, but rather just a kind of dusty swarm without a hint of atmosphere and meaning. (06/01/2010)