Image: Netflix
From the thoughts of author/director Philip Koch (Sixty Minutes, Tribes of Europa), Brick is the brand new mysterious sci-fi thriller starring frequent Netflix collaborator Matthias Schweighöfer and his Army of Thieves co-star Ruby O. Payment. Whereas Brick makes 3 Netflix Authentic motion pictures for O. Payment, Schweighöfer has now starred in 6 movies, kicking off together with his breakout function in Zack Snyder’s Military of the Useless in 2021.
Shot in Prague in a custom-built residence complicated particularly for the movie, Brick tells the story of Tim & Olivia (Schweighöfer & O. Payment naturally), a pair going by means of the motions and barely conserving their relationship afloat following a traumatic loss. After a last-ditch try by Olivia to maintain the spark alive goes awry, she decides to pack her issues and depart, solely to search out their residence is totally shut in. All their doorways, home windows, & exterior partitions are fully sealed off by a darkish assortment of brick-like shapes with a texture and really feel fully in contrast to something they’ve ever encountered.
With no communication, no expertise, and no clarification for these occasions, Tim & Olivia work collectively in quest of solutions and a manner out of this complicated, mysterious, & claustrophobic nightmare. Breaking down partitions and flooring between residences, they acquire the assistance of their neighbors to help of their mission to go away. However as they draw nearer to discovering a manner out, new forces & rising tensions discover extra methods to maintain them in.
Becoming a member of Schweighöfer & Ruby O. Payment on this condensed solid are Frederick Lau (Crooks) as Gael, Salber Lee Williams (The Queen’s Gambit) as Ana, Murathan Muslu (Barbarians) as Yuri, Alexander Beyer (The Lives of Others) as Friedman, Sira-Anna Faal as Lea, & Axel Werner as Oswalt.
Image: Netflix
Brick follows a basic puzzle field plot building that entices the viewer with an unexplained occasion that entices and engages its viewers whereas slowly answering the query alongside the best way. A few of my favourite movies & TV exhibits (particularly the works of Damon Lindelof) comply with this construction extremely nicely, sometimes making the characters and the ethical & philosophical quandaries they endure so engrossing that the thriller takes a backseat to the meatier plot entanglements. Sadly, Brick doesn’t do a lot to excite & entice its viewers past the poorly rendered CGI wall of confusion.
The movie is an apparent, poorly executed style mix that doesn’t do any of these genres significantly nicely. The science fiction doesn’t get that technical because the thriller largely will get solved by a useless man and largely simply found by a online game programmer, an architect, & a set of bumbling, drug-addled, paranoid neighbors who don’t add a lot to the proceedings. The thriller facets don’t kick in till midway by means of the movie and are consistently derailed by Koch’s poor use of drama and pointless, painful-to-watch philosophical musings.
The film simply desires to scream “He constructed a wall round himself emotionally, get it?! He needed to break down these partitions to get by means of THESE partitions, GET IT?!” whereas often making an attempt to get deeper with the “why us?” conundrum that tries to trauma bond the characters collectively in a fruitless, nauseating, extraordinarily compelled method carried out by facet characters who don’t deserve extra backstory.
Brick’s story building looks like a relic of a budget, small Covid-friendly productions that bought greenlit a handful of years in the past, created round 1-2 location settings with minimal characters who largely must reckon with confinement, political/social commentary, conspiracy theorists, or the entire above. With so a lot of these movies coming and going already, it appears too little & too late for Brick to make an impression, even when it was made nicely (it actually wasn’t).
The hardest half to sq. up is what the viewers is meant to remove from such a narrative. Surveillance is nice as a result of it provides you with all of the solutions? At all times consider the tech man over the conspiracy theorist/doomsday believer, even when what they are saying is totally believable? At all times wager that one thing optimistic will happen, even in case you have little or no foundation to go on? Don’t belief your neighbors? Put emergency messages over radio frequencies that they know can’t penetrate the partitions? If anybody has any solutions, I’m keen to pay attention.
Brick; Matthias Schweighöfer Brick; Cr. Courtesy of Netflix ©2025
On a optimistic be aware, one of many essential causes I used to be excited to fireside this film up was the casting of Schweighöfer & Ruby O. Payment, they usually weren’t the explanation this movie didn’t succeed. In truth, exterior of an inexpensive but restricted efficiency from Murathan Muslu as Yuri, they mix for one of many uncommon brilliant spots within the movie. Whereas the writing will allow them to down, the duo tries their greatest to raise unearned dramatic stress and convey the viewers again from lengthy stretches of fledgling supporting characters. Their familiarity from Military of Thieves proved helpful to provide this film one thing to cling to when the story goes wayward.
Total, Brick largely wastes the puzzle field intrigue & main duo of Schweighöfer and Ruby O. Payment with a poorly written screenplay devoid of robust characters, correct motivations, attractive clue constructing, & a-ha thriller reveals. For all of the questions of “what is that this?” and “why is that this occurring?”, the viewers will largely be left asking “What was the purpose?”
Watch Brick on Netflix If You Like
- Dice
- 10 Cloverfield Lane
- Military of Thieves
- Tribes of Europa
MVP of Brick
Matthias Schweighöfer & Ruby O. Payment
As I famous them as one of many uncommon positives within the movie earlier on this evaluation, I’ll preserve this one easy: When this main duo is on the middle of the movie’s consideration, the movie is healthier for it. Surprisingly, this occurs much less continuously than you suppose, which is a part of the explanation the movie doesn’t succeed. A sprinkle of humor for 2 actors that may completely ham it up nicely would have improved this one immensely. Nonetheless good to appear again collectively after the enjoyable (and possibly underrated) Military of Thieves.
Whereas the main solid and preliminary fascinations could convey you to this one, you gained’t acquire the rest when the movie is over.
See my listing of favorite new movie releases of 2025 so far.