The charismatic criminal Dobermann (Vincent Cassel), who got his first gun when he was christened, leads a gang of brutal robbers with his deaf girlfriend Nat (Monica Bellucci). After a complex bank robbery, they are being hunted by the Paris police. The hunt is led by the sadistic cop Christini (Tchéky Karyo), who only has one goal: to catch Dobermann. The cast is dominated by French superstars Cassel and Monica Bellucci (they married in 1999), playing the antihero and his ultra-loyal partner in crime, and they both manage to create a niche amidst the film’s visual excesses. But the film clearly belongs to Karyo as the deranged cop on Dobermann’s tail, an irredeemable psycho who’s prepared to break every rule – legal and moral – to bring his nemesis to book. Dobermann not only set debut director Jan Kounen on the road to cinematic glory, it also helped to create an aggressive upsurge in ultra-commercial European cinema. This is 100 minutes of non-stop comic-book violence, a traditional cops and robbers scenario in which the police are no better than the crooks. All the thought behind this film was put into the style, and in that regard the film succeeds admirably for this is an incredibly stylish film made on a relatively small budget, the film was made for about 33 million Francs which is equivalent to about 5 million Euro’s. The directing was extremely fast paced and kinetic, full of stylish movements, rapid zooms to close ups and fast editing. The film consists of basically two sequences: a supposedly “genius” bank heist and a violent confrontation at a nightclub frequented by cross dressers.
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