Cologne "crime scene" in a quick check: A really bad crime thriller

Almost 24 years after her last appearance, Commissioner Schenk's daughter reappears in a "crime scene", this time with a burned-down restaurant and her own daughter.

Cologne "crime scene" in a quick check: A really bad crime thriller

Almost 24 years after her last appearance, Commissioner Schenk's daughter reappears in a "crime scene", this time with a burned-down restaurant and her own daughter. Also on board for New Year's: a mafia-like delicatessen.

What is happening?

A right-wing mob is marching through Cologne, stones are being thrown as well as slogans, in short: violence is in the air. The fact that the Persian restaurant "Wunderlampe" was burned down during the riots seems appropriate at first glance. But then a body is found in the ruins of the store, and the homicide squad, in the person of detectives Ballauf (Klaus J. Behrendt) and Schenk (Dietmar Bär), begins their investigations. However, the latter does not think at all of police work, but of his daughter: Because, oh coincidence, the burnt down restaurant belonged to her husband. Is his Sonja (Natalie Spinell) lying there in the rubble?

Because the resolution in the film doesn't last ten minutes, we're anticipating: no, it's not. But the fire assassin himself, which immediately raises a whole series of new questions. One of them is: What does the delicatessen seller Raschke (Manfred Zapatka) actually have to do with the whole thing? For the sake of clarification, Ballauf and Schenk set off, but not in the same vein - the good old bias is to blame, in this case Schenk's.

What is it really about?

"Paul Salisbury's screenplay had this wonderful idea of ​​a self-contained microcosm where everyone knows everyone and where you work things out among yourselves," explains director Nina Vukovic. It remains to be seen whether the idea was really that wonderful - in any case, it was implemented in a terrible way. Which is perhaps also due to the fact that a second spin had to be included in the story: the reintroduction of Schenk's daughter after an incredible 24 years of absence. That doesn't read as well as it is.

Roadzapp Moment?

"I gave you money when no bank wanted to do it. Because people help each other here in the neighborhood." Recited in a raspy voice in a warehouse, with a nutcracker as a vague threat of torture. Sounds like "Goodfellas" or "The Godfather", but it's the delicatessen retailer Raschke. And so that we understand each other correctly: There is not an ounce of irony in this scene.

Wow-Factor?

At best, the hackneyed standing sentences that the screenwriter generously distributed in the dialogues with the phrase spreader. A few randomly picked examples:

• "People know each other here, it's like being in a village."• "Shouldn't you rather find my son's murderer instead of threatening innocent citizens?"• "The vulnerable Nico was only available behind closed doors."

How is it?

3 out of 10 points. "Protective Measures" is a really bad crime thriller. No more and no less.

(This article was first published on Sunday, January 01, 2023.)