Max Manus: Man of War
Max Manus is a Norwegian 2008 biographic war film based on the real events of the life of resistance fighter Max Manus (1914–96), after his contribution in the Winter War against the Soviet Union. The story follows Manus through the outbreak of World War II in Norway until peacetime in 1945.
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- Cast:
- Aksel Hennie , Agnes Kittelsen , Nicolai Cleve Broch , Christian Rubeck , Julia Bache-Wiig , Kyrre Haugen Sydness , Eirik Evjen
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Reviews
The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.
I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.
One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Wonderful movie, I'd say.I would have liked to have seen more of Max's experiences while he was fighting with the Finns against Russians. My grandfather and his brothers came back from that war broken, which even I, after decades had passed, could see.Almost all Nordic countries were going 'under the boot' at that time, albeit from different sources. Denmark and Norway suffered from Germany's invasion and Finland suffered from Russia's. Although, they never bested us. :) The numbers were 10 Russians against 1 Finn at the worst times but still we prevailed. Oh, by the way, Stalin was even worse than Hitler. Most of the western world just doesn't know about it.
Let me make one thing perfectly clear. I walked into this movie knowing almost nothing about Max Manus and only knew somewhat about what he did. I think that might be the key into whether you're going to really enjoy this movie or not. I did like it but it does have problems.In case you don't know Max Manus was one of the best Norwegian Resistance fighters in the second World War. This movie seems to be Chronicling all of that while he must confront his alcoholism and nerve damage. Would this make way for a good movie? In my opinion Hell yes. It would probably make way for one of the best of it's kind but this does have problems.The biggest gripe for me is that the people who made this movie are shoe-horning in a lot of things for a near 2 hour movie. It kind of skips quite a bit. An example is when Max's best friend Gregers dies. That could show some great drama for what he would be going through... In the next scene it's a few months later. Sometimes when this happens it even skips almost a year. I know almost nothing about this guy is there really nothing they could have shown that would have been just as interesting as what we've already seen. I mean they cut from Max escaping Nazi control by crossing to the Swedish border to him getting trained in Scotland almost a year later. You know what I wouldn't have minded it if the time length was extended to three hours or so.I did like how some of the drama was handled though. While this movie does skip over some things I did like how the post-war scene was handled when Tikken and Max are talking when Max says he has no education, no job and no money and therefore has nothing to live for. There are some scenes like that when I did like the way it was handled.I also liked the acting and the cinematography of this movie. All of the cast do a pretty good job at acting the parts and some of the shots are actually quite impressive to look at. In terms of cinematography I guess I enjoyed the flashbacks to Max fighting on the Front Line in Finland the most.So I guess if you want to watch this movie - I think you should do a little homework on this guy before you watch it, he does actually sound like an interesting guy to look up. Some of the scenes are handled pretty well and others aren't. This is a decent movie to watch but I don't think it's as good as people are saying it is.EDIT: Now that I have done some research on the real guy... Why didn't they include some of these events in this film?
This is the story about Max Manus.A classical war movie.Not your typical patriot US movie.But this time it is from Norway.Max Manus is a James Bond like freedom fighter.The movie had deserved Oscars for acting and sound effects.No Tom Hanks or Ryan are seen here.Just some lesser known names.It's a must watch if you been in Oslo like me.Some alternative entertainment for the weekend.10710
I found this war film very enjoyable. The story and acting was good as was the design. It has good moments of suspense and was like an old fashion picture of bravery and winning over the bad guys. The characters are interesting with the central protagonist Max Manus being someone we do care about. It is good to look at with some very good photography at the outside locations. I particularly enjoyed the night scenes during the sabotage sequences in the harbour.I would say a good film to watch for teenagers and adults.It is a foreign language film with subtitles.