Derr Hotsy-totsy...

Rating: 6/10 (4 June 2009)

BLACK BOOK has a lot going for it: outstanding production values, some fine performances, and lots of action. Action galore- and then, even more. And that's what's at the heart of what's wrong with this movie: it never pauses long enough, at any point, to build some much-needed suspense. Everything happens in a much too quick "and-then-she-joined-the-resistance-and-they-got-ratted-out" manner; the storytelling isn't carefully measured, it's rushed, as if getting as many shots in the can as quick as possible was the director's overriding concern. The fact that the camera almost never stops moving suggests as much (it's a common practice in low budget film-making). To cite but one example: the scene where the son of the leader of the resistance is being tortured. There's absolutely no suspense whatsoever in this scene (a pivotal moment in such a film, one would think). Had this one been pared down to a handful of essential scenes and had those scenes been thoroughly thought out and presented, BLACK BOOK might've felt a little less like a rush job. And that's no rush to judgement, either.