Mr. Car and the Knights Templar

It's a low-budget mashup of National Treasure and Super-8 featuring plucky kids who insert themselves into a dangerous treasure hunt. Plot holes abound and everything is relatively low-stakes. The one character that gets developed has his arc telegraphed from the outset. The story is both familiar and instantly forgettable. Nevertheless the movie is affable enough, with a breezy tone, PG-13 action and feel-good resolution. It's an enjoyable enough diversion if you're prepared not to take it too seriously. The cast generally do a good job with what they're given and the pace, direction and editing are all decent.

Mr. Car and the Knights Templar-1080P

Mr. Car and the Knights Templar-720P

Mr. Car and the Knights Templar-360P

Mr. Car and the Knights Templar-480P

Knowing nothing about the background/ history of this story, I went into the movie with no expectations. It was a great throwback to a different era in a relatively unknown culture to me. I found it interesting. The characters were quirky and the story well-suited to kids and teens. The cinematography was great and all the actors played their parts quite nicely. The main antagonist was villainous yet not overdone. I found the movie entertaining and didn't feel like there needed to be a complicated storyline. I enjoyed the movie for what it was. I'm glad there's another wholesome and fun adventure movie out there for kids and teens to watch... and which exposes them to another language and culture.

The premise for this ridiculous pile of tosh is that when Tomasz, an art historian. Finds an ancient Templar cross, he must join forces with an unlikely group of adventurers on a quest to unlock the relic's secrets with the help of his ridiculous car. An unpleasant mix of The Goonies, Indiana Jones and the Da Vinci Code. The characters are bland, generic and unlikeable. The plot is confused, easily sidetracked and over-complicated, presumably to hide all the plot holes. It's a sort of rip-off of Indiana Jones, without the strong, charming lead or companions, the Goonies without the humour, and the Da Vinci Code without the clever research and hokum that make that story spooky. Tiresome, generic, and poorly conceived treasure-hunt film without any real character. Something Netflix commission all too regularly.

This film takes on a well known and loved brand, and then uses it to create a completely different fantasy, hence the disappointment of so many viewers. In the source material Tomasz NN is almost the epitomy of "the grey man": he is supposed to be boring, unassuming, blend into the background and come across as a bit of a fuddy daddy. His biggest advantage over his opponents is that they always, always underestimate him, and he plays that card for as long as he can. The man comes across as if he has no ego or ambition: whilst his opponents and rivals boast of status symbols (often difficult to come by in communist Poland) his biggest achievement is working at a museum. The only thing that stands between him and being the grey man is his car which draws attention wherever it turns up. Tomasz inherited the car from his uncle, an amateur inventor and mechanic. The car is ugly, bizarre and invites mockery but it holds a powerful secret, just like Tomasz who hides intelligence, charm and a fair bit of altheticism under his unassuming exterior. Tomasz is a kind soul who looks after his boy scout friends, just like they look after him. Each book has a strong female character with a lot of agency, though viewed through a feminist lens (which I have nothing against) they probably suffer from being a male fantasy rather than a representation of womanhood. The film presents us with an obnoxious, self centred, childish character who is supposed to evoke both Indiana Jones and James Bond. His car is a cute-ugly, rat monster truck, something that plenty of people could see as cool. Poland in the film is a land of the 1960s USA's cultural landscape with some local props thrown in, so hopefully viewers will not treat this film as a way to find out anything about Poland and its history. For people who grew up reading and loving these books, this film has nothing to offer. However, it is decently shot with more than adequate production value (hence 3 stars) so if you didn't read or love the books you might enjoy this story. For me it was neither Pan Samochodzik (Mr Car), nor James Bond, nor Indiana Jones and I didn't enjoy it so I gave up half way.

Mr. Car is a fun film that follows the mold of most treasure hunting films. It's a little predictable, but we enjoyed it. The main character is a lighter version of Indiana Jones crossed with James Bond. It was filmed in Polish, but the dubbing was adequate. The humor is a little silly and the connections between characters tales a little too long to develop. On the other hand, there is no disappointment in the outcome and it is left open for a sequel. I found the characters endearing and would watch a second installment of the series. I can't imagine Mr. Car garnering the success of either the Indiana Jones, nor the James Bond franchises, but it is light hearted fun with just enough adventure to be interesting.

"Pan Samochodzik" books are a cultural phenomenon in Poland. They tell a story of a minor government official, who works in a department of Museum and Culture in the 1960s. What sounds like a boring job is actually a fascinating detective-like activity, where the hero tries to solve historical mysteries leading to lost works of art and other treasures. It's cleverly and engagingly written, although you can tell that its time has passed. The series of books have been adapted for film and TV a number of times, with the most successful being "Samochiodzik i templariusze", which you can watch on YouTube with automated English subtitles. Fans have been waiting for the next adaptation of the adventures of Pan Samochodzik for many years. Unfortunately, it wasn't really worth it. The production team of "Mr Car and Knights Templar" completely wasted the potential of the best book in the series. The title was chosen not only because Netflix decision-makers thought that they will have a ready fan audience, who remembered the excellent series starring Stanislaw Mikulski, but also because of the still prevailing "fashion" for the Templars. Fascination still seems to be going strong all over the world, so Netflix clearly wanted to score points here as well. Probably only the last reason was the consistency and quality of the original book. The author, Zbigniew Nienacki, was not a literary genius, but he was certainly an efficient writer, and "Mr. Samochodzik and the Templars" is a great example of this. How good this novel is was clearly shown by the excellent TV series mentioned earlier, which, although it differed slightly from the literary original, was logically coherent, and efficiently implemented, with great performances by all the actors. In the Netflix film, we have a contradiction of all this. It is completely unrelated to the book, has logical holes of which Swiss cheese makers would be proud, and is played hopelessly by almost everyone, both professional and respected actors and "rookies". The script is very weak and incredibly chaotic, which can be seen even in the first, introductory scenes with a silly James Bond-Indiana Jones theme. The main character is alternately repulsive, comical, pathetic, and sad. Netflix's assumption that the product (because let's face it - that's how they approach the production of any film) needs to be "modernized" tragically backfires creating a bizarre and illogical farce. It's a shame as Netflix obviously has the money and talented people who could do a proper job. Do yourself a favour and skip this atrocity and watch the original 1973 TV series instead.