Scorched Earth

Shadowrun!

The film promotion probably needed a mention of Nouvelle Vague; and I too quickly thought of Melville's classics.

But even if the previous film hadn't been called ‘In the Shadows’:

This is Shadowrun. Without magic, metahumans, and in the Germany of 202x - but otherwise a street-level Shadowrun. A solo, a fixer, a job; a rigger, a decker, a samurai about to retire; a Schmidt¹... and the run.

After the introduction of the characters - Trojan gets the longest, the others progressively shorter - the run gets underway in classic Shadowrun fashion.

The sober realism is very pleasing. Even German ÖRR crime thrillers today have a slight superhero halo around the characters. Here, on the other hand, the production conveys: this is real street level, Chummer; a single shot can kill you.

And that heightens the suspense.

Which is necessary, because the sober, gritty, auteur film look of ‘Scorched Earth’ flattens all action film expectations. The rigger drives well, Trojan drives often, but real cars in real world physics. Weapons are used, things are hacked and faked - but only as they probably could be in real life.

In terms of acting, almost everyone is fully involved and effective in their performance, intensity adapted to the focus of the respective role, good casting right down to the supporting roles. Only Bilge Bingül shows that he is not a professional actor; his performance would have worked in a comedy, here it was a little distracting. But not excessively.

If you go in expecting an action film, you will be disappointed; if you expect a noir film, you will be well served. And if you can imagine the combination of Novuelle Vague and Shadowrun: this is it.

I liked it a lot. For my taste, it's worth seeing and recommending, but not for the general public.

¹German variant of the Johnson.