9/10
Great entertainment, though not for the faint hearted
30 September 2002
Warning: Spoilers
Yesterday I had the chance to see "Old Men In New Cars" at the Filmfest Hamburg. What a great movie. I hope this film will come into cinemas soon. This is supposed to be a prequel to "In China They Eat Dogs" but it stands very well on its own. The characters we already know from "In China They Eat Dogs" are the same as is the weird, black humor. It lacks the two supernatural beings from the first film, but you don't really miss them. On the other hand, there is more action and more violence in it than in "In China They Eat Dogs". And it is really funny. When I think about some of the scenes, I still have to laugh.

---Possible spoilers ahead---

The film is about Harald, who, just released from jail, wants to fulfill the last wish of his dying foster father: He wants to see his son. Of course nobody knew he actually had a son. The son, Ludvig, sits in a Swedish jail. So our heroes Harald and his two cooks, and Vuk of course, get him out of jail only to learn, that he is a serial killer that starts his "obsession" as soon as he gets the chance. And then, of course, there are our Croatian friends, this time all dressed in black T-shirts with a double-headed eagle on the front and huge (and I mean HUGE) golden necklaces, whom Harald owes money. Harald also needs money to get his foster father a liver transplant in Southern America to save his life. After a bank robbery which fails, the Croatians suggest he rob an airplane while it is about to take two containers with money on board. Now just imagine a deadly sick old man, who is drugged with opium and the last time he flew a plane was about 40 years ago, on the control stick, and the police trying to stop the plane... anybody who is afraid to fly should close his eyes during that scene or you'll never get in a plane again. Absolutely hilarious. And the tricks they used in that sequence are really good. As are the car stunts.

There are several dead bodies, lots of car crashes, the Swedish get their share, the plans our heroes try to carry out are totally impracticable, but they do it anyway and somehow they succeed with them (well, almost), and in the end, everybody is happy. Well, most of them.

I hope this film gets released Europe wide soon, because I have to watch it again. Great entertainment, though not for the whole family.
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