Urban Explorer Review


Movie: Urban Explorer
By: Maniac E
Date: July 16, 2012

Explore the dark side of Berlin...

So you think Urban Exploration is cool, you like the photographs you like the movies of the dead places that are forgotten? Well you will be just glad you picked this movie up! But with all the dumb folks in the movie this wouldn’t be a good a good pick after all...

The plot jumps almost straight into the action, with Lucia, Denis, Marie and Juna signing up with veteran urbexer Kris, who promises them he can sneak them through Berlin's tunnel network to an ancient SS bunker sealed since the second world war. The four barely know each other, let alone their guide, but the lure of the old ruins proves too tempting. The initial descent is all looming shadows and the eerie silhouettes of rusted ironwork from the Cold War, but the trouble starts once an accident sees one of the group badly injured and unable to get back to the surface. When a mysterious vagrant pops up out of the darkness, he looks like the only hope the rest of them will be able to get help in time, but - probably not much of a surprise, this - it turns out their new friend has no interest in the party ever leaving the tunnels alive.

Urban Explorer

If all you want is a spooky movie with monsters and atmospheric settings, this is as good as any. If you expect anything like a logical story, well, maybe not so good. The film depends on a common misconception; every big city has endless tunnels beneath and they are all connected as well as lost and forgotten. And this is nonsense. Unlike Paris which has quarries beneath it, most cities do not have anything like a connected maze of tunnels. And most tunnels, even abandoned subway stations, are used for something and are well documented.

Urban Explorer

But what is worse, the film seems to glory in the way the cast wander around shrieking in fear until something bites their heads off. Giving most of the dialogue to Stiglmeier is a double-edged sword; he's far more talented than the young leads, but virtually every line he gets is the equivalent of a small child ceaselessly poking you in the back. You're stupid, aren't you? God, you're stupid. I'm going to enjoy the stupid look on your face when I kill you - what? No, I didn't say anything. You believed me? God, you're stupid. And so on, and so on, until you've rolled your eyes so much they're threatening to fall out of your head. Add to that the way the story skips at least one major event entirely just to throw in another ridiculous boo scare and the fact the big reveals are all visible a mile away, and the ending feels like clocking off at the end of a long shift rather than anything that'll end up haunting your dreams.

Urban Explorer

And our explorers are totally unprepared for their adventure. They have no hardhats, no first aid kit, no proper clothing, nothing but a few dinky flashlights. If not for their "guide" somehow toting 5 sets of rubber waders in his tiny backpack they would never have made it through a flooded tunnel. We are further told that scrawny teens can climb 50 feet, hand over hand, on a thin rope. And that's up and down. Small wonder the actual climbing is not shown! And of course the abandoned tunnels are full of improbable characters who survive on.... what....rats? If you like to suspend your disbelief totally, you will probably enjoy this film. But if, like me, obvious plot holes spoil the experience you may wish you watched something else.


2/5




Movie

Urban Explorer

Title

Urban Explorer

Director

Andy Fetscher

Country

Germany

Year

2011

Cast

Nathalie Kelley, Nick Eversman and Klaus Stiglmeier