Sixty Minutes

[Drunk Monk]

Sixty Minutes

An MMA film from Germany. And it’s great ultravi. A fighter is set up to fight but on his daughter’s birthday and his ex is giving him 60 minutes to get across Berlin to the party or she’ll take full custody. So he bails on the fight. But the fight is fixed and gang money is on the line so he has to fight his way there.

It’s a threadbare plot but if you expected more from a German MMA film, you’re a fool. It’s a rollicking frantic chase, a race against the clock, dashing across the city from fight to fight with echos of Run Lola Run. 

What makes it work is the fight choreo. There’s some nice extended sequences, bursts of brutal oner melees, performed by stunt actors with solid skills. Often MMA movie choreo is bad. They don’t develop a good fight language, and tension doesn’t escalate satisfactorily. It’s usually flat. This film has a definite choreographic style with an MMA flair. It’s just chase > fight > chase > fight for the whole film (which is a half hour longer than 60 minutes) but it manages to sustain its momentum as long as you don’t bunk about it too hard. It’s a park your brain outside flick. Just enjoy the ultravi.

D00M recommended.

[Greg]

I was going to say, knowing film length run times, wouldn't it have been better to call the film ninety minutes?

[Drunk Monk]

Well, there’s several minutes before the 60 minutes starts. And there’s some after it ends but it would be a major spoiler to reveal that.