On July 10, Netflix presented another new release for the weekend — a German-made sci-fi thriller «Brick». The film stars Matthias Schweighofer and Ruby O. Fee, who have already worked together on the set of the heist film «Army of Thieves», which was a prequel to the zombie post-apocalyptic «Army of the Dead» by Zack Snyder. This time, the heroes face a much more mysterious threat than hordes of walking dead namely, a black wall that enveloped the entire house, closing all the ways out. How exciting it was to find a way out of the situation together with the residents of the ill-fated house — read the review below.
Pluses:
An interesting concept with good potential and intrigue; the presence of exciting scenes; an attempt to build drama through metaphor;
Minuses:
The film has nothing to surprise; the action-packed genre and sluggish dramatic components interfere with each other; some viewers will definitely be disappointed by the ending;
«Brick» / Brick
Genre science fiction thriller
Director Philip Koch
Starring Matthias Schweighofer, Ruby O. Fee, Frederick Lau, Sulber Lee Williams, Murathan Muslu, Sira-Anna Faal, Axel Werner, Alexander Beyer, Josef Berusek
Premiere Netflix
Year of issue 2025
Website IMDb
Tim is a video game developer from Hamburg who has thrown himself into his work. He had long been planning a trip to Paris with his wife Liv, but they never got around to it. And now Tim puts work first, not realizing that this trip is Liv’s last attempt to save her marriage, which for some reason has cracked.
Another quarrel between the sufferers is interrupted by a very strange discovery: all the doors and windows in the apartment building are blocked by a black wall of unknown origin. Any attempts to somehow destroy or at least damage the mysterious fence fail. Eventually, Tim and Liv make a hole in the ordinary wall, which helps them communicate with their neighbors. They join forces to get to the bomb shelter, and it seems to be just a short walk to the subway. Will the residents, who are literally walled in their homes, manage to get out?
At the very beginning, the German filmmakers insert a telling shot of a fly caught in a trap into the narrative. And in a few moments, it will not be difficult to decipher the author’s message behind the wall of a claustrophobic thriller with elements of science fiction. The metaphorical message is read almost after the very first dialog between the main characters: this is a story about the walls we unconsciously build around ourselves. Psychological barriers that prevent us from hearing each other, understanding, and compromising.
In the case of Matthias Schweighofer’s character, this behavior is due to a terrible tragic event that had befallen the couple a few years earlier. His complete immersion in his work became his way of overcoming his indescribable grief, a kind of defensive reaction, including against his wife.
From a purely genre point of view, this is a formulaic product, but it boasts an interesting concept, quite tense individual scenes, and a fascinating global intrigue.
On the one hand, a claustrophobic story about a group of people trapped in a confined environment in the spirit of Vincenzo Natali’s iconic «Cube» (1997) can be used to squeeze out maximum tension. On the other hand, if there is no room for deadly traps in the story, the filmmakers do not have much room to make the suspense feel constant and only grow.
In «Brick», this is exactly what happens. The film has few maneuvers for unexpected situations that could lead to death, and the drama conflicts with the genre’s action component instead of harmoniously complementing each other. Well, yes, the wall can stop bullets like Neo, and do to the most curious what the Queen of Aliens did to the android Bishop in Cameron’s sequel. Unfortunately, there is a distinct lack of such moments that rapidly electrify the air.
Together with the characters, it is quite interesting to speculate about what kind of wall it is, where it came from, and what awaits the slaves outside. This is, in fact, the main intrigue of the movie.
For example, a local ecstasy lover gives a very working version that the residents of the house got into a kind of analog of «Squid Game» (or it’s all connected with «The Matrix»). Netflix, of course, loves to stamp out the assembly line, and we have already seen hints of expanding the geography of bloody games. However, such a density of similar stories, given the fact that third season of the South Korean hit was released recently — it would be too much even for a streaming giant.
According to the local conspiracy theorist, in certain respects, suspiciously similar to Jai Courtney, the high-tech bricks are designed not to destroy but rather to save the suffering, because there is probably some kind of infection raging outside. And if the «Hamburg Wall» does fall, everyone will be ruined. Be that as it may, some viewers will definitely be dissatisfied with the hints and answers offered by the movie. But this allows the creators to develop the theme in a potential sequel.
In general, «Brick» does not grab stars from the sky and does not impress with anything. But at least here there is something to catch the eye, unlike «The Old Guard 2» which was released on Netflix a week earlier.
From the standpoint of a streaming video library, this movie is nothing more than another brick in the wall.
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