Scouts of Peace - DVD

Movie: BND agent Frank Kern (Jürgen Prochnow) is ambushed by the KGB when he tries to get the future president of Katchistan out of the country and to Berlin for an important peace conference. With contact with their best agent severed and time running out, those in charge at the BND have only one choice: they must ask former East German spy Jochen Falk (Henry Hübchen) to help them. Together with his former team - Jacky the technician (Michael Gwisdek), Locke the logistician (Thomas Thieme) and the once perfect seducer Harry (Winfried Glatzeder) - Falk is persuaded to join the mission. After all, he still has a score to settle with Kern. The pensioners let themselves be infiltrated together with the young BND agent Paula Kern (Antje Traue) in Katschekistan, not suspecting that the mission will go quite differently than planned.

The story of Scouts of Peace is actually a really good idea. Reactivating a group of retired agents and sending them into a crisis area with a young female colleague is a thoroughly amusing premise for an agent comedy. The old men are perfectly cast, especially with Henry Hübchen and Michael Gwisdek. And director Robert Thalheim has also proven himself to be an accomplished filmmaker with such diverse films as Westwind or Am Ende kommen Touristen. All good prerequisites, but not enough to produce an all-around successful work.

The problem with the comedy is that it is nice and entertaining, but nothing more. Here and there it shows the necessary bite, which again is noticeably lacking in other places. In some moments, it just lacks the necessary oomph, while in other scenes, it's simply the comedic timing that doesn't work. This is a shame in that the ingredients are actually all spot on. The ensemble is well chosen - including Hollywood export Antje Traue - and plays with obvious fun in the whole thing. The story also has potential, which flashes through entertainingly here and there.

It's not entirely obvious whether it's the script, or the direction, that keeps slamming on the brakes here before the full potential of the felicitous aspects can unfold. The fact is that the film weakens in the very points that actually make for great cinema entertainment. Rather, Scouts of Peace comes across as solid TV entertainment: It's watchable, it's entertaining. But a little more courage for vicious satire could have worked wonders here. Therefore, in the end, the only thing that can be said here is that everyone involved has made an effort, but in the end, unfortunately, it's not the film that Scouts of Peace could have been. Nevertheless, there is in the end - albeit with cutbacks - still a decent worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The image of the DVD pleases with a decent overall sharpness and a very atmospheric color scheme. Furthermore, since the black levels and contrasts are well matched, the mood of the images can unfold well. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix has some nice surround moments to offer and also transports dialogue powerfully from the home theater speakers. Good!

Extras: The DVD has a few nice extras to offer. It starts off with two TV appearances by Henry Hübchen on WDR's Kölner Treff (approx. 12:21 min.) and Michael Gwisdek on Aspekte on ZDF (approx. 11:47 min.). The programme continues with premiere interviews at a rather unusual location, namely on the cruise ship AIDA (approx. 25:13 min.). And finally, the ambassadors meet for a chat with a film journalist (approx. 14:07 min.). All of these extras reveal some interesting details about the filming, backgrounds, and characters.

Continue with a standard promo featurette (approx. 3:15 min.), a music video for the song Old Agent Man (approx. 3:25 min.), a brief behind-the-scenes look at the film (approx. 2:26 min.), and a making of visual effects (approx. 3 min.), trailers, and a stills gallery. Good!

Conclusion: Scouts of Peace has many good ingredients, some of them even very good. Nevertheless, the film unfortunately does not manage to live up to its full potential. Entertaining entertainment for a relaxed-amusing home cinema evening, however, the DVD offers all the time. The technical realization is convincing and the bonus material has some interviews worth seeing. All in all there is for it a: Recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp