IndustriousAngel A story about a botched life - interesting and (loosely) based on the life of robber, murderer and distance-runner J. Kastenberger, better known as "pumpgun Ronnie" (because he used a Reagan-mask for some of his robberies). The running sequences are good; I'm a distance runner myself and they did a nice job portraying it, the actor (Andreas Lust) had to do a lot of running for these and the flight sequences! On the DVD/BD, watch the extras about how they shot the Vienna City Marathon scenes during the actual event - even many spectators were fooled! Plus, there's a lot of outdoor scenes on many different locations; you have to wonder how they managed so many takes in just (I believe) 40 days of shooting. As a consequence, light isn't always perfect, but the film definitely has a very realistic look. While interesting to watch, it's difficult to relate to this very quiet and coldblooded man. The girlfriend is, of course, made-up for the story, in reality the robbers contacts to women were restricted to prostitutes (yes, he did spend some of that money). Maybe the film would be more involving if it were nearer to the real-life robber who seems to have been a pretty choleric type, sometimes committing murder just out of a sudden rage. As it is, you're not touched by this film.

sergepesic Whenever the movie or a TV show is based on real events or people, its a slippery slope. There is that pesky,annoying difference between the movie and real life. In real life one encounters all kinds of people, makes little contact with them and continues his own way. In the movie, alas, we need much more. The true story based on the marathon runner with a penchant for robbing banks, sounds very original and interesting.The trouble is that Johannn, the lead character stays completely unknown to us by the end of the movie. We have no idea what makes him tick, what his motives are. His stony, stoic expression doesn't give away much. He keeps running and by the end of the movie, I felt the same, albeit running away from the TV set.

waysmi (If you want a summary of the film, read anybody else here.) Despite the activities shown, the film abounds in "still waters." The presentation of activities and the principal character sticks solely to the surface without any explanations. The film is enigmatic and compelling, perhaps even boring to some. Any people seeing this together will have much to discuss afterwards.Anyone seeing it will come in knowing the robber is a runner since that is the basis for all the advertising. I'm no runner and usually not very interested but this was especially fascinating. The actor Lust portrays the title character in a beautifully minimalist performance and also gives the footwork a distinctive style. I don't know if it would win races but it sure works in this film.Acting and all aspects of the filmmaking are excellent overall. Even the music for the end credits is good for emerging from the deep waters.

Davor Blazevic Austrian-German co-production, Der Räuber (The Robber, 2010), based on the real events, tells the story about the long-distance runner, who could've lived a decent life, having a loving and caring girlfriend, a solid place to stay, and an extraordinary talent for long-distance running that he could've easily made a good living on, but instead, he additionally specializes and excels in bank robbing, becoming an addict of such an unusual activity for no other obvious reason but for possible "beauty of a criminal campaign" and adrenaline rush received along. (He's hinted times and again that he couldn't have cared less about the stolen money itself, by jamming it into black rubbish plastic bags, as if he was going to trash it.) One of those life stories that you cannot help but get unpleasantly amazed with how all the reasonable prerequisites for a good life, though inexplicably, yet seemingly so unnecessarily, get flushed down the drain, apparently faithfully presented in the movie with understandable, ergo acceptable lack of intention to ease the answers to the hard whys.