Simply A Masterpiece

Lack of good storyline.

Disappointment for a huge fan!

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The plot is an old man who was the leader of the SS Deaths Head Division wants to give an interview from his prison cell to a certain journalist. It is rumoured that he knows of the whereabouts of 'the white raven' this is a large diamond worth a ton of cash or 100 million USD. It was last seen in a German concentration camp when it was used to barter for the life of one of the Rothschilds. Well this journalist is Tulley Windsor and he is a hard drinking and smoking no nonsense type of guy. He heads off and blah blah lots of fisty cuffs, lots of over weight heavies, over acting that would make a pantomime dame cringe and a plot so full of holes as to be almost transparent.This really is a turkey, the acting is OK in places, but the script is amateurish and childish – it's the sort of thing that may work for a young audience who want a good bit of adventure and never mind the facts. The ending is barf inducingly bad. It is not a lack of money either as this had tons to waste. This is the sort of film where you don't hear the helicopter till you see the helicopter or in this case a police car with sirens blaring. I really wanted this to get better, there are some great locations in Poland and places and I really like a bit of international intrigue, this though manages to shoot itself in the foot repeatedly. Do yourself a massive favour and avoid like an arse kicking contest.

Rarely have I seen a suspense film with such a wonderful premise but with such a lousy execution. This is because there were a bazillion plot holes in a film with a great plot--so many that the plot is essentially ruined. It's a shame, as the film, with a few changes, could have been wonderful. My wife and uncle were a bit more forgiving. As for me, it made me mad that such a great idea sucked me in and,...well....it just sucked! The film begins with the highest ranking living Nazi in custody inexplicably requesting a meeting with an American reporter (Ron Silver). The reporter has no idea what it's all about--and EVERYONE seems to go nuts because the Nazi supposedly knows about the whereabouts of one of the largest diamonds in the world! And, through the course of the film, one group after another chases the reporter after he meets with the Nazi. The problem is with all these folks trying to capture him, he can't help them because the Nazi's message is so vague he has no idea what it meant! I loved this idea. And, when you finally learn how his uncle is THE key--this was brilliant!! But, in the meantime, yuck! Ron Silver was a good actor--but here he is totally miscast. The film called for a man who was a combination of James Bond and the Rock--but Silver was all wrong. A middle-aged paunchy guy who chain-smokes cannot possibly out-shoot secret agents, neo-Nazis and the US military!!! Yet, inexplicably, Silver's character won't accept help from anyone and yet he manages to come out unscathed by the end of the movie!!! In between, there are some other insane moments such as sneaking him into the embassy in a VW trunk when the place is surrounded by police who are told to allow NO ONE inside as well as the women who throw themselves at this very ordinary looking man....and MANY, MANY other insane moments. With a bit of a re-write (such as making the reporter an ex-CIA agent or a god would have helped) and plugging up holes, it would have made a dandy film--perhaps capable of earning an 8 or more. Instead, it's a dumb film with a few great moments.I should repeat that my wife and uncle were far more charitable than I was. When they asked me what I thought of the film, I found I was becoming angry--angry because the film SHOULD have been better and sucked me in--only to disappoint again and again. My wife felt it was fun schlock. My uncle thought he could have used his time better sleeping in his hammock. I felt it was a waste of my life and I felt stupider as a result of having seen it. As for my aunt, who really didn't pay total attention to the film, she was glad she missed it.

I guess that when starting a movie like "The White Raven", a team has two basic choices. They can make a James Bond type of film in which the hero will keep falling into traps most terrible from which he will miraculously escape with his life and tie undisturbed - which is quite OK because we all know in advance that he is indestructible. Or they can make a realistic movie in which the hero is very much destructible and has to depend solely on his wits and on some more or less sympathetic people to survive - if he does survive at all; we can never be sure.And then there is the third type which tries to combine the first two - which seems to be a sure formula for disaster. "The White Raven" is, of course, just one of many such movies which may start, as this one does, quite decently in the realistic direction and then suddenly turn around, becoming more and more laughable right to the last "deus ex machina" (in this case one of the most stupid I have ever seen).As such, the movie could perhaps be enjoyed as an unintentional parody if it were not for repeatedly ghoulish scenes which make one think that its authors are fetishists of a rather unpleasant sort; and only to their kind can "The White Raven" be safely recommended.

I didn't buy it, it was Star, she brought it home from the video store. She wouldn't say why she bought this particular movie, but I can venture a guess. It must have been in the "dollar to own" basket right by the register.A dollar seems to be a paltry sum, but in this case, alas yes, it was far too much. That dollar would have been better served in the cup of a homeless man's crack fund rather than spent on this film. It was supposed to be a thriller, but b'gum, it wasn't thrilling. Instead the director served up, Polish extras in a go-go disco, a supposedly mad Nazi (who had the most coherent lines in the film), a murderous Polish police sargent and a corrupt American general (who throughout the film could be interchangeable.Ron Silver smokes and runs simultaneously at one point and you think if he could only smoke run and act he would have something there. According to this film, the way you elude the Warsaw police department is to jump behind a wall when they are approaching ... EVEN IF THEY SEE WHERE YOU HID! The only saving grace of the film was that in the deleted sex scene we didn't have to witness Ron Silver taking his shirt off.Roy Schieder seemed to be saying his lines while watching the clock, one had the feeling that he had an early tee time and wanted to wrap up his scenes in time to hit the links in the afternoon. The only real tangible enjoyment we pulled out of the film was that now we have a new standard with which to judge really bad movies. We can say "That film may s**k, but it's no White Raven!"