"Vortex" is a German film from 2001, so it has its 15th anniversary this year. The writer and director is Michael Pohl and it is probably one of his most known works today. He never really broke through afterward. The cast includes two names that German audiences may recognize. These would be Hardy Krüger Jr. and Harald Leipnitz in his final performance before dying. This is a science-fiction film and I am a bit biased as I never really liked the genre too much, which is also why I did not enjoy it. I cannot say if it is true what other reviewers wrote that this film copies other films to an unbearable level, but I can certainly say that this is no 10/10 movie. I have no clue what some people are thinking. All in all, it felt like a really generic Sci-Fi film to me. The effects were okay, but there was nothing memorable about the story or the acting. Krüger Jr. just isn't an artist with a lot of range. That much is safe. I give this one a thumbs-down and I am glad it was over at the 50-minute mark already. Not recommended.

Vortex: 4 out of 10: If the producers of Overdrawn at the Memory Bank ever tried to remake Total Recall for German television it would look a lot like this movie.Vortex is a short subtitled German film about an innocent man sentenced to a prison where he has to recreate his crime over and over again in the mode of Dante's Inferno. Unfortunately that short description is much more interesting then anything the film ever achieves.The prison itself (outside of some horrible CGI spiders) is actually very well done and reminiscent of that great mutant town from the previously cited Total Recall. The film however does nothing with this interesting set up preferring to put its rather bland hero through a series of quite obvious moral dilemmas.The film in retrospect makes little sense after the first twist ending and absolutely no sense after the second. It however does succeed in entertaining if only with a dangling anticipation that something more interesting is going to happen very soon. Sadly for the viewer it never does.

well, its clear to see whats going on here. someone was very fond of movies like matrix, escape from new york and minority report and just did his "version" of it, but unfortunately this one is very bad. every scene in this movie is basically a remake of a scene from some other science fiction movie, the title "vortex" is a slight change of "the matrix" and the similarities go so far that even the actors say the same things as in other science fiction movies.for example, the scene at the end when the warden of this new-age prison says "lets play some music", its so much a ripoff of the scene from "minority report", it was hard for me not to smash my TV in anger.on the other hand, the design and everything is very nice, so it could have some potential, but they blew it by not coming up with *anything* original, its all a rip-off.

Vortex is about the ultimate prison in a time where crime has taken over and the government is forced to use drastic measures. When Vincent shoots a thief in self defense, he is sent to the Vortex after an seemingly unfair trial. Once inside, he learns the principle of the Vortex: Each week, he has to repeart his crime - in his case murder - to stay alive. Otherwise he himself will become a target.Michael Pohl's movie is quite promising. He may himself be a potential Vortex inhabitant as he steals from SciFi movie history in each scene, but manages to make it his own work.The story focusses on Vincent's dilemma of having to repeat a murder in self defense, now minus the self defense part. The moralities of this situation are in fact a part of the surprise ending, which isn't really a surprise as there are many hints throughout the movie as to what the Vortex is really about.The acting is okay, nothing special here. Hardy Krüger Jr. tries his best to add some depth to his character, but as in most of his other roles it is appearant that his abilities are limited. On the other hand, Vortex grants us a final look at the talents of the late Harald Leipnitz, who often didn't have the chance to shine as brightly as in this movie.If you're a Blade Runner fan, or a fan of dark SciFi in general, you should give Vortex a try. It's far from perfect, but it's basic idea is strong enough to entertain. In fact, Vortex might act as a blueprint for an American remake, as the story could be quite intruiging if done properly and a surefire hit if a couple of big names are added to the project.