‘Sixty Minutes’ Review — German thriller is a lean, mean race against the clock

A review of the new action movie, on Netflix now

After a brief shot of his profile, Sixty Minutes introduces MMA fighter Octavio “Octa” Bergmann (Emilio Sakraya) by raking the camera down his naked, tattooed torso, pecs bulging and abs heaving. There’s a reason why that torso features so heavily in the show’s promotional material; it’s a good torso! But over the next hour and a half, we will witness that body get beaten, pummeled, stabbed, shot at, kicked, punched, and more. Because more than anything else in the world, Octa needs to get to his daughter’s birthday party.

At the beginning of the film, the twentysomething fighter is a ball of potential energy. He has a big match starting any minute against a hulk of a man named Benko (Aristo Luis), and Octa gets hyped up by his friends Paul (Dennis Mojen) and Cosima (Marie Mourom) until he’s roaring, positively vibrating with adrenaline waiting to be unleashed on his opponent. Trouble is, the fight has been delayed all day, and Octa promised his daughter Leonie (Morîk Maya Heydo) that he’d make it to her birthday. He and Leonie’s mother Mina (Livia Matthes) aren’t on good terms, and he’s tired of disappointing the people he loves.