Kajínek

A decently made, but incredibly boring fairy tale, which lacked only a kiss through the bars, which would have made him swoon before the truly hideous song sounding into the closing credits. The direction was helped a lot by Brabec's camera and Vladimír Dlouhý and Michal Dlouhý, but otherwise it was just boring and empty. Even Lavronenko and Vilhelm were not miraculous.__P.S. I don't want to see Václav Bárta and Alice Bendová in any more Czech films, please. One and a half. (2011-04-15)

A film that is controversial in the most banal and brutal way I can imagine. A film with a solid momentum, but at the same time with a dizzyingly romanticizing image of Kajínek as a Czech James Bond. It is almost impossible to believe that this person is a member of the Czech underworld, as rather he looks like the post-revolutionary Mirek Dušín. I find that unequivocally questionable. The affected attempt at lyricism also got on my nerves, whether in the overstretched music of Václav Bárta or in the traditionally opulently empty camera of F. A. Brabec. The pinnacle of the movie? A famous and without question riveting performance by Lavroněnko, who made Kajínek into a character with whom the viewer will very easily identify and will feel sorry for/admire... Well? I doubt it. (2010-07-29)

As far as Czech thrillers go, it's quite good, but The Story of a God-Father was still considerably better and grittier in this regard. Jákl drew heavily from American productions and approached some action scenes in a similar style. It's not bad, but compared to what's out there, it just fades into the background. On the other hand, it's an example that a Czech action thriller can work. (2014-11-10)

Jákl has seen a lot of films. This film looks "American" more than anything else, and Czech cinema finally has a real "bad-ass" character (Konstantin Lavronenko!), but making movies about people who the media will make saints out of is kind of immoral. We could have almost finally had a proper Czech genre film without a sour taste in our mouths. 3 ½. (2010-11-12)

Another Czech crime film, this time focusing on the story revolving around the most famous Czech prisoner, Kajínek. Petr Jákl wasn’t afraid to tackle such a well-known topic, which took courage, but he jumped at it like a chicken on feed. The opening massacre scene at Plzeň’s Bory prison was reminiscent of Western competition in many ways, and overall, the camera work was one of the key elements the film could boast about (F. A. Brabec knows his stuff). I liked the storytelling style, even though it deviated quite a bit from the real script in many places, but I guess it wasn’t possible to transfer everything to the screen. Lavronenko was the biggest surprise for me—it must have been unusual for the Czech audience to see a foreigner in the role of Kajínek, but he blew everyone away. You could see how well he had prepared for the film both physically and in terms of character, as I totally bought into his role. I’d also praise both of the Dlouhý brothers, as they are a clear guarantee of quality. Vilhelmová didn’t fit into the role of the lawyer for me, and I would describe her performance as dull. Where I would criticize the film is in the sometimes chaotic jumping around, Václav Noid Bárta's music that pushed a bit too hard, and also some of the acting performances. However, the escape from Mírov prison and the subsequent arrest of Kajínek in the apartment were handled perfectly. It has its flaws, but within the domestic scene, it still outshines most of the competition. I give it 77%. (2017-07-23)