Sent to deactivate a high-profile target Victor (Joachim Krol) finds himself mesmerized by the beauty of a nameless woman (Nadja Uhl) lying next to his mark. A day after the job is done Victor follows the woman to a nearby bridge where she attempts to commit suicide. He saves her and the woman is admitted in a nearby hospital. Soon the cold-blooded assassin whose work the police have never been able to deconstruct is faced with a difficult decision: to follow his heart or remain the perfectionist he is.

From top German producer Tom Tykwer (Lola Rennt a.k.a Run Lola Run) and director Mennan Yapo comes a stylish new thriller about a killer who gradually begins to lose his cool after years of successful "practice". Lautlos a.k.a Soundless (2004) is a methodical exploration of crime and passion rivaling a medical examination: cause and effect are closely investigated while unneeded information (flashy Hollywood effects, etc) is being omitted.

Evoking partial comparisons with Luc Besson's Leon (1994) where the assassin played by Jean Reno underwent a sizeable character transformation Soundless remains somewhat restrained-Victor's struggles to embrace what his heart is telling him are not as crucial to the story as one might have expected. On the opposite what Mennan Yapo is concerned with is the fractured "methodology of crime" and its impact on the main protagonists.

Nevertheless the romance between Victor and Nina does take a major fraction of Soundless and most certainly the action appears to be influenced by it. Also unlike the revealing dialog which the mentioned-above Leon offered in Soundless the main protagonists hardly even speak. They move, they grimace, they use their eyes to disclose what is important to them.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Soundless however remains the impeccable precision with which Mennan Yapo and Tom Tykwer investigate the act of killing. The chilling, utterly naturalistic, routine which Victor follows before he takes out his targets is quite impressive. If one is interested in learning about the psyche of a killer who takes into consideration even the smallest of details Soundless might very well be the film to see. No doubt as soon as the viewer is introduced to Victor and his "profession" it becomes obvious that "chance" is a word that does not exist in his vocabulary.

Lastly, if there is anything that Soundless does not manage to accomplish in a flawless manner it must be the use of dialog during the second half of the film. I thought that the rather minimalist-approach the German crew favored in the opening scenes worked perfectly as Victor was quite impressive with his actions. Unfortunately when he became emotionally involved with Nina and was granted a human face the lines the two characters uttered visibly disrupted the rhythm of the story. Nevertheless Soundless is leaps and bounds ahead of most of the crime-thrillers Hollywood mass-produces each year.

Official Film Site and Trailer:
http://www.lautlos-derfilm.de/flash_de.htm

How Does the Film Look?

Even though Soundless was shot in an aspect ratio of 2.40:1 the R1 distributors Koch Lorber have decided to present the film in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 while also enhancing it for widescreen TV's. As far as I am concerned such approach rivals what we witnessed during the VHS era: (PAN/SCAN) unneeded cropping. Furthermore, even though the film has been converted properly from a PAL-master it is not progressively-flagged and I was able to spot a good dose of "combing". Aside from that colors are good, detail is handled rather convincingly, while the print is free of any damage and/or specs. Still, edge-enhancement is an issue and I was also distracted by a number of scenes where aliasing is quite prevalent.

How Does the DVD Sound?

Despite of the fact that the German release of Soundless offers an elaborate DTS track all that you will find on the R1 DVD is a modest 2.0 Dolby Digital German track. Dialog and music are quite well mixed and I did not hear any alarming defects but I do wonder what would have been if we were given the more advanced DTS German track (the harpoon scene must be quite effective on the German R2 disc). With optional yellow English subtitles.

Extras:

Aside from the original theatrical trailer and a gallery of other Koch Lorber releases there is nothing else to be found here.

Final Words:

I was determined to recommend Soundless as I quite enjoyed it yet due to the questionable presentation, especially the aspect ratio blunder which is of great concern to me, I am forced to downgrade my evaluation. It is quite unfortunate indeed as in recent months I was actually beginning to like what Koch Lorber were producing. Let's hope that this is not a sign for things to come.