Review by Bop
Germany has always had an obsession with the Krimi genre. The Krimi genre is the genre of crime series for all you non-German speakers out there. Whole generations, German and Dutch and maybe even Belgian and Scandinavian, know Derrick, Der Alte, Tatort, all the SOKOs series, Alarm für Cobra 11 and Der Clown and there are definitely some more. Derrick is considered a cult TV show, but I found it boring. Der Alte was also boring. Tatort was good when the character Schimanski was in it.
Schimanski in Tatort
The SOKO series are boring too. Alarm für Cobra 11 was boring. Der Clown is ok. I was never a big fan of the Krimi genre, because when is enough enough? It seemed German people only want to be entertained by Krimis, Krimis and more Krimis.
Der Clown
However, a few years ago Germany levelled up their Krimis with Dogs Of Berlin being their masterpiece. Personally I thought Dogs Of Berlin would never be surpassed, but boy was I wrong.
Crooks: Best German TV show ever!
Crooks totally kicked my ass. I did not expect that at all. This was intense, suspenseful, funny and one of the biggest roller-coaster rides you will ever watch. I don’t know if it was a German-French co-production, but it sure looked like it. It combined the German Krimi atmosphere, which I can’t explain, with the grittiness that you see in French cop shows/movies. The result was outstanding. I’ve never heard of Frederic Lau and Christoph F. Krutzler before, but damn if they weren’t an odd combo, that totally worked. The story in short is that a master thief is hired to steal a rare Russian golden Ruble coin in Berlin, but during the stealing, shit hits the fan and the master thief becomes a hunted man. Everybody wants the coin and the coin is a source of misery throughout the whole show.
The master thief saves the life of a Viennese mafia driver and together they need to team up in order to stay out of trouble. The hunt is across Europe so various beautiful locations are shown so that is a big plus. The tension during the TV show was fantastic. It brought me to the edge of the seat various times and the tension was there until the end of the TV show. The TV show had it all. Fights, chases, babes, scumbags and shootouts. And best of it all, it was totally agenda free. That’s a novelty.
I don’t think there will be a second season. The story was closed, but I don’t know what they would need to do to top this TV show. I already said One Piece and Brothers Sun were the best TV shows of 2024 to me. I was wrong. Crooks is the best of them all. If you want class A entertainment, action and suspense Crooks is must-see. You can easily watch it with your girlfriend or with your missus, unlike Dogs Of Berlin.
And if they ever make a Bud Spencer & Terence Hill movie remake, Christopf F. Krutzler MUST play Bud Spencer.
Do you see the resemblance to Bud Spencer?