It is brutal, relentless, nihilistic, violent, terrifying, relentless, psychopathic, and yet it is so powerful, so explosively febrile, it compels you to watch and keep watching.

| Aug 23, 2018

Two problems I had with the film were that the subtitles were too small making them difficult to read and that they did not remain on the screen long enough to adequately read. Nevertheless, it is an amazing movie and well worth your time.

| Jan 17, 2018

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 17, 2011

| Original Score: C+ | Sep 7, 2011

| Original Score: C+ | Oct 10, 2010

It doggedly refuses easy ways out, and it has the guts, brains and critical eye to plumb the roots of terror and its bloody consequences.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Oct 16, 2009

The Baader-Meinhof Complex is not an easy film to watch; its violence is ugly and brutish. And there's a lot of it.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 1, 2009

Part thriller, part social history, this tense 2008 drama traces the rise and fall of the Baader-Meinhof gang.

| Sep 25, 2009

It'd be nice to see an American filmmaker commit a similar reckoning with the Watts riots, the Weather Underground, or the Black Power movement, not simply resort to cant and kitsch but to really interpret those moments.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 25, 2009

Edel uses documentary tropes to realize his overarching narrative, and the end result is an electrifying, morally complex story of the evil that men (and women) do in the name of the greater good.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 25, 2009

There are some literally killer performances here, most notably Johanna Wokalek as Gudrun.

| Original Score: B | Sep 18, 2009

There's a fine line to walk when making a film about outlaws: A few wrong moves and, presto, glamorization occurs. To its credit, The Baader Meinhof Complex almost entirely avoids this pitfall.

| Original Score: A- | Sep 18, 2009

A thoroughly engrossing tale of conflicting agendas and thwarted ambition. In its verve and verisimilitude, the film recalls such classics of political cinema as Z and The Battle of Algiers.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Sep 17, 2009

There's an element of relatable humanity missing from the foundation of trying to tell a story that could have taken six hours in 144 minutes, but there's no denying the power of those 144 minutes.

| Sep 15, 2009

By the end you're left with a question worth asking: What is the best way to put your ideals on the line in any country, in any era?

Full Review | Sep 15, 2009

Very good, very smart, very clear.

Full Review | Sep 15, 2009

Impressive in its scale and momentum, it's the kind of action-packed political melodrama that generates more heat than light.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Sep 10, 2009

The Baader-Meinhof Complex is diluted by too many events and characters distributed over too much time.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Sep 10, 2009

A rare epic that deserves every minute of its epic length.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 4, 2009

Even though its purpose couldn't be more serious, its style could hardly be more pulp. Which is probably fitting for a group that started out with high-minded goals and ended up robbing banks and blowing people away.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 28, 2009