Christmas Crossfire is a dark comedy/thriller movie directed by Detlev Buck and starring Kostja Ullmann, Alli Neumann and Sascha Alexander Gersak, alongside others.
Ah, what a year to be merry on Christmas. With Netflix coming out with one cheesy Christmas rom-com after another, it’s no wonder that we get another holiday-special movie to usher in the merriment. Only that, Christmas Crossfire isn’t really a movie with very little, if any, holiday cheer. I think the title itself is quite self-explanatory. It is quite safe to assume that there’s going to be no cheer or merriment in this very dark comedy about a man with the worst luck possible.
Christmas Crossfire follows Samuel, a professor, who meets Edda at a bar and decides to go to her house in the countryside to attend her father’s birthday. However, on the way, some “fun” times result in him stumbling across a murder taking place which ushers in a series of misfortunes for the poor guy.
This dark comedy provides no warm hugs and good vibes. If anything, you feel terrible for Samuel who probably has the worst luck on the planet. He comes across one bad thing after another that makes his travels complicated and unfortunate. Riding on the misfortune train is also Edda, who tries to find his new boyfriend after he disappears, only to stumble across creepy men and a murder.
There’s a lot of bloodshed and jokes surrounding it. Christmas Crossfire takes place in an idyllic village where no one really bats an eye about anything. Everyone’s pretty unaffected by stabs and gunshots like that’s no big deal. It’s a movie about love, betrayal and vengeance and it delivers on the vengeance part very well.
With that being said, Christmas Crossfire’s dark comedy aspects severely lack in a lot of places. I think dark comedy is a very subjective taste, and this movie does not really hit the nail on the head quite well. Case in point, there’s this extended chase sequence at the end where ganglord Herrmann chases after Samuel, Edda and her family. It has all the makings of a funny sequence, with a funny background score, a drunk ganglord and people running helter-skelter. However, it really isn’t funny – rather, it’s boring.
I think that’s one of my major gripes with this movie. It’s not really new. It features themes and sequences we have seen before, and although the actors do a good job with their characters, it doesn’t really hold on to our interests that well. The actors are all believable in their roles and do a good job at bringing forth the complexities of these people in such horrifying situations. They provide some funny moments and form the backbone of the movie.
Summing up: Christmas Crossfire
Christmas Crossfire is a dark comedy that upholds the little nuances and eccentricities of an idyllic village and the people who live there. There’s a lot of violence and bloodshed and a lot of nonchalance surrounding it, and if you’re into a Christmas full of crazy ups and downs, you might just enjoy this one.
Christmas Crossfire is streaming on Netflix.
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