It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

By watching this movie the one can think that the cold war never ended or is it just a thought? This movie was mostly about persuasive way to portray the East in the style that western propaganda is serving the Russian story to their brain-washed audience. Nothing more than that because the plot looks like the badly developed scenario for the cold war thriller and directing is pretty mediocre. Without the brilliant Moritz Bleibtreu this would be just a piece of junk. The director got lost in the conspiracy theories behind the Russian military actions in Chechenia with the apparently stolen idea on the staged terrorist actions of CIA regarding Sept.11 developed by Michael Moore in Fahrenheit 9/11. In several moments the director tries to explain where did he get the idea of implying such things after all, when showing us 9/11 photos among the father's stuff but remains silent on that part. Pretty transparent and pathetic.

Dennis Gansel has become one of my favorite directors, giving us multi layered masterpieces like Die Welle(The Wave) and Wir Sind Die Nach(We are the Night). Die Vierte Macht or The Fourth State disappoints a bit, but is far from a bad film.Paul(Moritz Bleibtreu) gets a job on a Russian paper where his late father worked. The two where not on the best of terms by the time of his death. Paul and the young photographer Dima(Max Riemelt) goes around and attends shallow parities in the obliviously globalised Moscow(in a interesting wink to the club-scene in Wir sind die nacht). Paul soon meets with the radical reporter Katja(Kasia Smutniak) and the two soon fall in love. Dima warns Paul not to have longer relationships with Russian women(strange as he is Russian himself...), and soon Paul is framed for a terror bombing.The acting and writing was pretty good. The relationship between Paul and Katja feel genuine, an improvement over the not so well fleshed out relationship in Wir Sind Die Nacht. On the other hand the acting and writing is not as good as in Die Welle and Wir Sind Die Nacht, Gansel has a lot of good ideas going on but I think he needs a co-writer who can help him write. That said some of the characters are really well fleshed out.Mark Ivanir(who looks like he is Peter Stormare's brother) as Alsan, a Chechen terrorist, steals the show completely and is by far the most interesting character. Rade Serbedzija also gets some interesting stuff to say at the end.The cinematography is a bit bland and seems to have been color corrected a bit to much but the music is pretty good. There is some interesting visuals like the contrast between the modern, globalised club and the small, traditional Russian bar.The story seems very realistic, it is much like all the news we get from Russia these days. The plot seems all to plausible.In the end, I think people should see Die Vierte Macht if they get the chance but Gansel can do better than this.

I try to avoid reading or watching anything about the movies I'm going to watch, as was the case with this movie here. That's why I guess I expected something different only knowing the title. The movie came to be a neat little conspiracy thriller, based a bit on experiences the filmmaker himself had when he visited Russia. He does mention this in the Audio Commentary which can be found on the German release of the movie (which was shot in English).Moritz Bleibtreu, a very well known and accomplished actor in Germany, does a decent job, playing an everyman (his character being a journalist). The story moves along fine, but it should have tried to stay focused on its main theme. As it is the usual downfalls (coincidences and convenient momentum) do not help the movie, but it still is a nice little entry into the conspiracy movie "genre".

"The Naive German Moron In Russia". yes, i'm serious about this and not joking at all. from the very beginning of this movie, i knew it's a very good movie with all the proper casting all over. the young guy, the main character in this movie is such a naive moron who came from Germany to work for a Russian celebrity magazine. but his naivety and his loneliness made him lose his alertness as a foreigner, a stranger in a strange land. he allow his 'little head' doing all the stupid things that he should not do in the first place. this guy made me feel pity on him but at the same time, i think what he later encountered served him right. this is a highly ideological movie, portraying the current situation in Russia. it's also a warning to all the younger people who are interested in politics that passion is a very dangerous thing once government and government policies are involved. like what this German moron said when he was in bed with his newly found love: "it seems that he's doing nothing but protesting." there are indeed so many young guys who actually do nothing but only interested in demonstrations or protests against the reigning government. they think that peoples' power is the weapon against police or military forces. by yelling and screaming, they can achieve what they wanted, but what they got are either prison time or bullets in the head. the first thing that all the politicians in power would do is how to maintain their power and how to suppress the dissidents. this movie would allow you to understand why most Chinese young people would never like to do anything against their Chinese communist run government after Tien-An-Men Square massacre. because passion simply cannot stop a bullet.