Arnold Schwarzenegger returned to Hollywood after his career as governor of California – with films as diverse as “Vendetta’, ‘Maggie’, ‘Iron Mask’ and ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’. But no matter whether zombie drama, sci-fi hit or fantasy adventure – they all had one thing in common: they were received by the audience with mixed feelings. It’s no different with Killing Gunther.
That Mockumentary style assassin adventure but also flew far under the radar of many film fans, especially in Germany. After the film, with which actor Taran Killam (“12 Years A Slave”, “Ted 2”) made his directorial debut, was released in the USA in September 2017, a local release was almost three years away. In 2020 the time had finally come, the film celebrated its German premiere on DVD and Blu-ray – and “Killing Gunther” is now also available as a subscription to Amazon Prime Video:
» “Killing Gunther” on Amazon Prime Video*
If you have subscribed to the premium service from Amazon, you can now take a look without any obligation (and additional costs). And if not, now might be the perfect time to get a Prime subscription – maybe not just for Killing Gunther, but for the thousands more movies and series you can get on the platform. In any case, you currently only pay 69 euros per year or 7.99 euros per month before the Amazon Prime prices are raised in a few weeks.
“Killing Gunther” revolves around the assassin Blake (Killam) who strives to be the best in his field. But there is a problem: His competitor Gunther (Schwarzenegger) is always one step ahead of him. So he comes to the obvious decision to hunt down the aging professional killer together with a squad of killers and eliminate him once and for all. But he already suspects what’s going on and is already expecting Blake…
With 46 percent positive votes on Rotten Tomatoes53 points at MetaCritic and 2 out of 5 stars in the DashFUN review, “Killing Gunther” tumbles around in the midfield. Above all, many critics blame the film for being nothing more than a witty sketch, which in the end is not enough to carry an entire feature film – even if it is pleasantly short by today’s standards with a running time of almost 90 minutes advised.
The film, in which you can see not only the Styrian oak, but also Cobie Smulders (“Avengers”, “How I Met Your Mother”), Allison Tolman (“Krampus”, “Fargo”) and Aaron Yoo (“Disturbia”, “Friday the 13th”) reminds our critic Christian Fussy more of average TV fare instead of Arnie’s glory days as a movie hero. The biggest shortcoming for Schwarzenegger disciples is probably not so much the weak script, but rather the fact that their favorite muscularity only gets significant screen time in the finale – which he then uses for a self-ironic, charming appearance. But you have to decide for yourself whether it’s worth fighting your way through the previous 70 minutes…
*The link to the Amazon offer is a so-called affiliate link. If you make a purchase through this link, we will receive a commission.
