Bullet Points: Nazi Doomsday Device
In the press release for Nazi Doomsday Device, writer and director Nico Sentner is touted as “The Godfather of Krautsploitation”. I was well aware of Blaxploitation, Ozploitation, Hixploitation and my personal favorite, Bruceploitation… but I have been living on this planet we call Earth for decades now and had no idea that Krautsploitation was even a thing.
- The Premise: An eclectic group of eight mercenaries led by a badass named Stoker (Fred Williamson, Bucktown) go on a mission to retrieve a secret weapon developed by the Nazis in World War II. This weapon was believed to be the ultimate weapon of mass destruction and one that would have won the war for Hitler if he ever got the chance to use it. The whereabouts of this Nazi doomsday device (also known as Project: Atomic Eden) were a mystery for years, but new intel has surfaced that Atomic Eden is under the surface of the abandoned town of Pripyat in the Ukraine… which is infamous for being the location of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster that took place on April 26, 1986. It is even alluded to that the “accident” that caused the Chernobyl disaster, was no accident at all and it was done purposely to keep Atomic Eden out of reach. Now more than three decades later, the radiation levels in Pripyat have dropped to the point where humans can survive for a short period of time (36 hours to be exact), so it is up to Stoker and company to retrieve Atomic Eden before the bad guys do.
- Putting The Band Back Together: The beginning of the movie shows our fearless leader Stoker roaming around Europe and calling up old friends to assemble his team. There is a solid attempt at making each member of the team unique and allow them to stand out… the shining star of the group is David played by German martial artist Mike Möller. Möller zips all over the screen in his fight scenes and proves he’s pretty handy with firearms too. I had seen Möller previously in Ultimate Justice and as I stated in that review, Möller is extremely talented, but I think his height might hold him back as ever being THE star of a movie, but he’s great in ensemble piece like this… Heinrich (Wolfgang Riehm) leaves his new life as a priest to rejoin his old running buddy Stoker. Heinrich was believable in his grizzled elder statesman role here… Coming all the way from Texas is Darwin (Everett Ray Aponte, The Hitman Agency). Aponte does his best to give Darwin a personality as big as Texas… No stranger to Bulletproof Action, Dominik Starck plays Brenner, a blade expert, and a character that added a little comic relief to the proceedings… There are two female members of the team, an explosives expert named Laurie (Josephine Hiles) and lady samurai Reiko played by model Hazuki Kato. In a movie filled with inexperienced actors, Hazuki Kato made me cringe at times with her dialogue. They did give her two of the best kills in the movie as she straight up shoots a guy in the balls and stabs another one in the top of his skull, plus she did look good… There was one member of the team that I put LVP next to his name in my notes, as in Least Valuable Player. The character’s name was John and his gimmick was he was the sniper. I got the feeling that the only way he got the role is because he was friends with director Nico Sentner… turns out he was more than friends with Nico, IT WAS NICO! To Sentner’s credit he does have his character John killed off first.
- Faceless Foes: We never really learn who the bad guys in the film are. All we know is there a lot of them, they wear masks and they either want to prevent Stoker from getting Atomic Eden or they want it for themselves. From a budget standpoint the masks make total sense… the masks meant you could recycle your bad guys. They all looked alike anyway so it gave the appearance that this army that Stoker and company had to face an army of hundreds. But they really should have had a “face of evil” someone we could really hate and see get destroyed in the end.
The negatives about Nazi Doomsday Device can be summed up by saying the movie felt like it bit off more than it could chew. Quite simply, the story Nico Sentner set out to tell didn’t have the budget that was required to tell it properly.
But the lack of funds was actually a positive when it came to the movie being forced to use practical effects and not go the CGI route so many films do these days. The more authentic “violence” was a plus in my book.
The major positives were the Mike Möller action sequences and Fred Williamson’s involvement. Stoker’s background may not have been fleshed out, but Williamson has been making action movies so long, it was easy to accept his character as a guy who has been on more than his fair share of special missions.
It is now my special mission to provide you with some Bonus Bullet Points…
- AKA: Nazi Doomsday Device will be released in the United States as Atomic Eden. Atomic Eden is the name of the short story Nico Sentner wrote, that the movie was based on.
- If You Ever: …wanted to see Fred Williamson attempt to light his trademark cigar using a church candle, then this is the movie for you.
- Memorable Quote: “What has forty teeth and holds back a monster? …My zipper!” – Darwin
- If You Ever: …wanted to see Fred Williamson kill a guy by attempting to pull the guy through a brick wall, then this is the movie for you.
- Familiar Face: Lorenzo Lamas (Final Impact) sneaks in right at the tail end of the movie. Lamas plays the guy who hired Stoker to get Atomic Eden for him and is none too happy when the exchange does not go as planned.
Nazi Doomsday Device is now available on Amazon Video UK and Vimeo On Demand!
