Armand more than a thriller, a form of homage to a lost age of cinema. the deep traces of 1940 years, the shadow of Casablanca, the acting in precise circles.a movie from a lost world who use inspired cast but without significant effect. error of script. or only error of director expectations. so, not a bad movie. but far to be remarkable. a film who has basic virtue to remember another films atmosphere but who can not give nothing real new. the slow story, the forced tension, the desire to be a realistic film noir are interesting ambitions but the desire to do everything at high level is the fundamental sin. a film for the fans of actors. and for the fans of film noir references. in rest, a slice of war with too many ambitions.

heysailor06 Spoiler warningI am very bothered by this film. I just saw the movie and they completed gutted the book. Took out the less pleasant aspects of the book so that the movie would be more like Casablanca. Instead of what it really was. A story about a murder cover up and a conspiracy to white wash Nazi scientists.' In the book no one cares about Tully's death and in fact the government does it sweep it under the rung. Emil is a S.S Nazi member who tries to kill jack over the notes about the camp. Lena turning other Jewish people to the Gestapo is treated to casually. In the book the women who did that get's tried as a war criminal. This movies changes major plot points to make it more neat and tidy. They took a great book and turned it in to pretentious Oscar bait. And it's terrible.

Charles Herold (cherold) The first thing you have to say about The Good German is, this movie completely nails the look and style. It's not just a movie with a 1940s- era look, it's a movie with a specific *mid-to-late* 1940s look, that period between the lush, deep blacks of early '40s movies like Casablanca and the more washed out black and white of the early fifties. It doesn't just have a '40s look, but the look of an exceptionally well- filmed '40s movie. The score is even more dead-on; I would challenge anyone to differentiate this musically from the scores of the period.Some people here are complaining that it's not true to form because there's some swearing and sex, but I see no need to make a movie that is indistinguishable in every detail from an old movie. If not for the Hayes code, movies back then would have had sex and swearing, so the movie is quite true to the film making artists of the period.Performances are quite good. Cate Blanchett successfully goes for the world weary quality of Dietrich and Garbo, while Tobey Maguire's Tully is a wonderfully realized character who would best be described as a "piece of work." George Clooney is good, and his movie-star looks make him the perfect choice for the part, but while Blanchett and Maguire seem to really want to catch the cadences of the period, Clooney plays Clooney the way he always plays Clooney, and it doesn't quite fit. But that's a quibble.The twisty story is intriguing, and plays with the moral gray areas that were also popping up in late '40s movies, particularly in film noir, but it's a little too convoluted, with a few too many characters and some continuity jumps. But overall I knew what was going on and who the main players were.If you've watched as many old movies as I have, you really need to see this one, just because it's the most perfect retro recreation since Far From Heaven.

ivo_shandor Never have I seen a worse blight on film than this movie. This is a blatant ripoff of Casablanca, or rather a movie trying to be Casablanca, ripping off the poster exactly, even the lettering and style.I rented this film, hoping to see a period thriller piece. I was more interested in hearing the plot. This movie has the worst plot, and spoilers, the plot doesn't go anywhere, it just shoves in this piece of rubbish on building weapons and killing scientists. Soderbergh tries to do the old filmmaking tricks from the 40s, but they just fall flat and look stupid. When he does the old zoom in on a letter, with the black boxes around it like in the 40s films, you can't even read what the letter says, it's that terrible.It's a waste of time, don't bother with it, even with the cast, Toby Maguire is terrible, Clooney isn't anything special and everyone else is just forgettable.I'm surprised more people don't like this film for what it represents.