Kampfansage (The Last Apprentice) Review

Set in a near future Europe at some indeterminate point after a 2045 pan-European civil war triggers a new Dark Age that leaves the continent clinging to only remnants of current technology and ruled over by an assortment of warlords, Kampfansage is the story of Jonas, a young martial arts expert on a quest to bring down the regional warlord Bosco who killed his master, shot and left Jonas himself for dead, and stole the martial arts manual that was the final repository for the world’s great martial arts traditions. In his quest to reclaim the manual and prevent its use for evil causes Jonas meets and befriends Vinzent, himself a skilled martial artist, and the two together lay the seeds of a populist uprising against Bosco’s cruel power.

Though Kampfansage is a decidedly mixed effort what it does well it does very well. While the post-apocalypse card is one that has been played often this film plays it well, using both natural environments and extensive CGI work to create a compelling and unique look for the world, one that clearly references Germany’s own recent past. The CG is clearly and obviously CG, but it is applied so consistently and fused so well with the natural footage that it creates a sort of heightened reality of its own, you clearly recognize it as false while simultaneously recognizing it as some sort of legitimate alternate possibility.

Environments aside, the core of what makes the film work are the two leads, Mathis Landwehr as Jonas and Volkram Zschiesche as Vinzent. Not only do the pair look great on screen and have an easy, natural rapport throughout, both both are very talented martial artists who thoroughly impress when given the chance to shine. Landwehr - also the film’s primary choreographer - uses a unique, very athletic and acrobatic fight style that is a fusion of many different disciplines, based on the Vietnamese disciplines he first learned as a child and heavy on two handed stick fighting. He is very fast, very precise, and remarkably agile. In fact Landwehr is impressive enough in this that soon after Kampfensage was released he landed himself a spot as a stunt performer in V For Vendetta. Though given fewer action scenes than Landwehr, Zschiesche also impresses with his agility and the two principals both get to show off their skills with a fantastic one on one battle that moves from staffs to hand to hand combat when they first meet.

Strengths aside, the weaknesses come pretty much where you would expect them to. Clocking in at roughly an hour and fifty minutes Kamfansage is a little over-long and the script could have used a final pass to tighten things up and flesh out the characters a touch. As it stands it dips into stock types and action cliches just a little bit more than is good for it. More critically for this sort of film there is a problem when it comes to depth of talent. Landwehr and Zschiesche are both very talented martial artists, and Christian Monz as Bosco is certainly no slouch either, but the pool becomes shallow fairly quickly after that and when it comes to on screen fighting a performer can only look as good as his opponent will let him. When fighters meet opponents of equal or similar skill - as in the Jonas versus Vinzent fight, the concluding Jonas versus Bosco fight, or the sequences that pit Jonas and Vinzent against Bosco’s key disciples - the fighters skills are able to be shown to full effect, the fights shot wide with long takes and boasting intircate choreography. Other sequences, however, are much more limited by skill level and necessity, many of them shot very tight with a great deal of overly rapid editing and manipulation of film speeds to mask the opponent’s lower skill levels.

As an action buddy duo Landwehr and Zschiesche aren’t up to the level of Cyril Rafaelli and David Belle, say, to make an example of the other continental action duo that bowed at roughly the same time. But with time and a bit more experience, they certainly could be. They have the raw skill and on screen charisma, what they lack is primarily the experience on the production side and even there they certainly don’t embarass themselves. The weakness are matters of limitation, rather than destructive flaws. With time to grow they have a very skilled core team here to build around.

The recently released German DVD - available directly from the film makers via the film’s website - is excellent. The film itself is presented in proper aspect ratio with a crystal clear transfer, excellent audio and perfectly clear English subtitles. While none of the special features on disc one are subtitled many of those on the second disc - including the bulk of the behind the scenes features explaining Landwehr’s philosophy of martial arts and construction of key action sequences - are subtitled and make for excellent viewing.