Divorces and child custody battles are never a pleasant experience for any of the parties involved, but imagine having one turn into both a literal race against the clock and a battle with every gangster in the city trying to pull you in the opposite direction!
The German martial arts flick “Sixty Minutes” pushes both ideas to their zenith in a touching story of a young man torn between his roles as both a fighter and a father, the two coming to a head with plenty of action-packed fun in the movie’s economical run time.
Trailer
Cast
Emilio Sakraya plays MMA fighter Octavio Bergman, with his beloved daughter Leonie played by Morik Heydo.
Octavio’s ex-wife Mina is played by Livia Matthes, with his MMA trainer Cosima played by Marie Mouroum and his business associate Paul played by Dennis Mojen.
Octavio’s friends Burno and Annika are also played by Bruce Willow and Eniko Fulop. Octavio’s intended MMA opponent Benko is also played by Aristo Luis, with the villainous Chino played by Paul Wollin.
Plot
Octavio Bergman finds himself in a tug of war between the rising trajectory of his professional MMA career and his strained relationship with his ex-wife Mina, along with the custody battle over their young daughter, Leonie.
Just as Octavio is headed into a championship fight, Mina issues an ultimatum – Octavio has one hour to get to his daughter’s birthday party, or he can kiss visitation rights goodbye after his and Mina‘s divorce.
Despite the promise of a championship belt and a big payday, Leonie means too much to Octavio for him to ever say goodbye to her, leading him to unexpectedly leave the fight and head to Mina’s house before the clock runs out.
Unfortunately, one particular crime syndicate bet a lot of money on Octavio coming out on top in the fight and aren’t about to let their investment go, leaving Octavio in both a race against the clock to make it to his daughter in time and in a constant series of parkour chases and martial arts fights against his pursuers on the streets of Berlin.
Action
“Sixty Minutes” Tells a Heartwarming Father-Daughter Story
For as fast-paced and hard-core as “Sixty Minutes” is, the movie tells a genuinely tender father-daughter story on the backdrop of an ugly divorce.
Octavio is hardly a deadbeat dad and genuinely cares for his daughter, but his focus on his growing MMA career has made him into something of a workaholic.
“Sixty Minutes” does give him a wake-up call in how much he’s been letting his family life slip away from him, even as Octavio thinks there’s nothing he can do about it due to the harsh circumstances of his divorce.
“Sixty Minutes” also doesn’t frame him as a neglectful father getting his comeuppance, either, but simply as a young father who is reminded of how much he cares for his daughter under the most challenging of circumstances.
In the context of a movie like “Sixty Minutes”, that can only mean the most action-packed of pressurized circumstances.
Parkour Chases? Yes Please!
While “Sixty Minutes” is primarily predicated on flashy MMA action, the movie’s on-the-run story also enables it to integrate plenty of parkour chases, as well.
While the parkour action in “Sixty Minutes” doesn’t get quite as elaborate in terms of the kinds of settings Octavio has to speed through, it gets the job done with plenty of flair.
As is often the case in parkour action scenes, “Sixty Minutes” interweaves its parkour vaults and jumps into its fight scenes.
It’s kind of surprising, in hindsight, how seldom a blend of parkour and MMA action has ever been attempted before, and Octavio’s mix of kicks, takedowns, and parkour vaults makes the case that this pairing should become a more frequent one.
“Sixty Minutes” Features Spectacular Fight Scenes Galore!
Apart from the movie’s parkour chases, the martial arts fights in “Sixty Minutes” are also top notch and fantastic with the accelerated pace the film delivers them.
With the caveat that the movie unfortunately has to not deliver on any in-cage MMA fights by the nature of its premise, action fans will still get their money’s worth from such highlights as Octavio’s alleyway smackdown with his pursuing gang.
Along with that, there’s him and his friends in a bonanza of an MMA free-for-all in Octavio’s gym, the latter being one of the stand-out action scenes in “Sixty Minutes”.
Extended Nightclub Brawl
Arguably the most elaborate martial arts battle comes in the form of Octavio’s extended nightclub brawl with a formidable henchman that is easily the best one-on-one match-up in the movie.
This does highlight a slight drawback of the movie by being the peak of the action both in terms of fight choreography and the skill of any of Octavio’s opponents.
The remainder of “Sixty Minutes” never quite manages to deliver an action scene of the caliber of the nightclub fight again. That said, the trade-off the movie makes in that respect is to add more emotional and literal weight to Octavio’s desperate race to get to Leonie that hooks right into the viewer’s emotions, whether they be parents or not.
Summary
Though it runs a bit short on steam in the action department by its third act, “Sixty Minutes’ is loads of MMA and parkour fun with an emotionally moving father-daughter reunion tale.
Moreover, Emilio Sakraya brings both a likable on-screen persona with flashy, powerful martial arts ability to his first real lead as an action hero (someone please put Emilio and Mike Moeller in a fight scene together post-haste!) “Sixty Minutes’ keeps its story and action as tight and condensed as any chase movie must, and when all’s said and done, it’s a wild 5K marathon with plenty of parkour and kicking along the way!
Favorite Quotes
- “She hasn’t eaten all day because she’s waiting for my cake.” – Octavio (realizing the gravity of possibly being separated from his daughter Leonnie.)
- “We have a door!” – Octavio’s mother (when he exits their house through the window while on his way to Leonnie’s house.)
Trivia
- Emilio Sakraya is a former full contact karate champion in his native Germany.
- In addition to his martial arts background, Emilio Sakraya is also a skilled traceur (or practitioner of parkour), as well.
- Some of Emilio Sakraya’s other credits include “Warrior Nun”, “Tribes of Europa”, and “Rheingold”.
- Some of fight choreographer Tolga Derimen’s other credits as stuntman and fight choreographer include the Bollywood movies “Kick” and “Baadshaho”, 2019’s “Charlie’s Angels”, Netflix’s “The Witcher”, and the yet-to-be-released “Kung Fury 2”.
Sixty Minutes – available on Netflix
