Max Schmeling

If only someone could have stopped him earlier.

Max Schmeling was a hero and an icon in every sense of the word. He straddled the ethical and moral line as best any German citizen could have during a time of almost unimaginable social and political chaos. In the midst of a dark cloud surrounding Nazi Germany, Schmeling was the last, best hope for a moderate, admiring view of the eastern European nation.

Given his status and continuing popularity among Germans and boxing fans worldwide, one has to wonder how it came to pass that "director" (and this term is used quite loosely) Uwe Bolle (as executive producer) managed to foist his latest fiasco on audiences in the guise of a movie about the life and times of one of the world's premiere athletes. "Mak Schmeling, Fist of the Reich" can best be described as "Max Schmeling: F_sting the Reich." Not since Uncle Adolph himself has one man done so much to offend so many.

Low on plot points, completely lacking in style and pace and heavy on pretentiousness, "Max Schmeling" is the logical follow-up to Bolle's "Blubberella" as an homage to out-takes strung together in the guise of a movie. "Star" Henry Maske's debut as the iconic heavyweight champion should mark the fastest decent into disaster since the Hindenberg. He is wooden and talentless in the lead role of Schmelling, and speaks most eloquently when saying absolutely nothing. There is little positive to say about this movie; I won't bore you with the less than stellar specifics.

I got this movie in a video store bargain bin as an used copy. The cover was appealing as i am interested in WW2 and i like boxing as well. Then it was in my shelve for a while as i was intending to watch it with my cousin who likes both subject as well. But then at some point i decided to watch it anyway, and realize it was sporting the name of ... UWE BOLL on it. Oh boy... i decided to put it in the shelve and include it in my next pawnshop movie sell(i do that once in a while as i buy pretty much all my movies used in video store, i don't rent much and i hate video on demand) So as i was making my movie pile for the pawnshop, i decided i should at least give it a go, after all, my Boll hate comes mostly from him destroying video game licences and i actually did enjoy Rampage.

The movie is in German, but i choose to watch it English dubbed. I am not a fan of English dubbed, but i tough it was rather OK in this, the voices didn't bother me too much. I come from a french province so i am used to french dubbing, but not English ones. Anyway yes the acting was so-so, but not that bad. I could get into the movie. I think his boxing years where pretty well done, the fights whee numerous and entertaining, i was actually surprised. I think the war segments and how the Nazis saw him could had been way better done, but then again it was not the point of the movie per say.

Overall i am surprised... its a decent movie, even tough its made to by Boll. Got to give credit where its due, I'm sure if the movie would had been dubbed in french i would had even more fun watching it. There is nothing spectacular but the movie don't feel too cheap or whatever and i didn't knew Max Schmelling at all, so now i want to look him up on wikipedia.

So yeah, i liked the movie. Will i keep it or pawnshop it? I dunno yet, it was way better than expected.

My opinion-.

This film traces the life of the legendary German boxer Max Schmeling, a German boxer born on 28 September 1905 in Klein Luckow (Mecklenburg- Western Pomerania) and died on 2 February 2005 in Wenzendorf (Lower Saxony). He was world heavyweight champion between 1930 and 1932 and will be making himself the first European heavyweight champion of the world. On June 12, 1930, after beating the American Jack Sharkey. Schmeling lost his title to points against Sharkey two years later, in 1932, but later beat the all-time African American champion Joe Louis on June 6, 1936, knocked down on the fourth and then KO in the 12th round . During the rematch organized on 22 June 1938, Louis wins by technical knockout in the 1st round. Max Schmeling later said: "After this defeat, I no longer existed for Hitler, my name had disappeared from the newspapers. Schmeling had then become the shame of Nazi Germany, and Hitler felt humiliated by this defeat in the face of a black man, repudiating him and sending him to battle on the front where he would do everything possible to survive. The production of the film by Uwe Boll is perfect and the film is even better thanks to the exceptional interpretation of Henry Maske. I loved this movie and I think it's really a movie to see or review.

So i did not know this movie was in german , thought it was in english lol but i continued to watch with english subs , this is a decent film , i dont get all the hate max schmeling has a good story and this film embodied it , another title to watch is joe and max another decent film.

Underrated movie. No rewinds were needed during viewing. Uwe.made it again. Seriously. Still can't understand why so many people are.so.prejudiced.

Not sure if Uwe had to make or decided by himself to make movie about german boxiing hero. Don't understand me wrong - Max Schmeling is not a masterpiece, but I wasn't bored watching it a bit. Boxing movies is not a really my cup of tea but if it's yours - give this movie a chance, Is the scenario perfect ? No. Would i change something to make this movie better ? Sure. Maybe it was a little bit too short. Some characters had no time to be deepened and maybe some of them had to be eliminated. Anyways... Decision is yours - take it or leave it.