Desperate Journey follows a young man called Freddie Knoller (Lucas Lynggaard Tønnesen – Borgen: Power and Glory), in a film that came out late last year, but only graced my Odeon’s screen last Tuesday, for Holocaust Memorial Day, as it’s a World War II-set drama, first showing Freddie in a 1945 concentration camp, and then alternating between that and a period of time from 1938 onwards, starting in Vienna, where I went on holiday last year.
For that timeframe, he and his family – who are Jewish, are driven out by the Nazis and split up, before we follow just Freddie as he moves on from place to place, meeting a young woman, Aiva (Anna Mawn – The Final Countdown: On The Edge), on the train, then as their paths go in different directions, with him eventually ending up in Paris and working in a burlesque club with dancer Jaqueline (Clara Rugaard – Mazey Day: Black Mirror), and cocky Christos (Fernando Guallar), the latter having an accent as bad as those found in ‘Allo ‘Allo), so it’s quite apt that a later part of the film involves the French Resistance, making me wonder if someone’s going to whisper, “Lizzen very carefully. I will say zis only once!”
Beyond that, we have Steven Berkoff (Fanged Up) making fake passports as long as you have the cash, while Til Schweiger (Atomic Blonde) pops up as Officer Kurt, and you’re just hoping it’s not long until someone says “Goodbye” to his Nazi balls!
Meanwhile, lil Louis Ashbourne Serkis (28 Years Later: The Bone Temple), as Nazi-in-training Karl, pops up to continue to prove he can’t act.
Oh, and sadly, Vienna wasn’t Vienna. Everywhere is Hungary.
Add in some typical trope platitudes, such as Freddie’s Mum telling him “Have faith in what you can’t yet see”, when the shit hits the fan, and despite learning at the end that this film is based on a true story, it’s a shame that it feels so plot-by-numbers in the telling.
Additionally, this was one of Odeon’s Silver Cinema screenings, which are a bit on the popular side… This is the queue for free coffees after the £2 entry fee.
I must’ve been to one of these before, but while they used to be £3 and without the free drink, the only time I remember was a screening of After The Hunt in its first week, which wasn’t a Silver Cinema, but coincided with the usual time for it, and was full of pensioners. Hope they enjoyed that one more than I did.
Since they only have a couple of trailers, the film started quite early, and the big lights had been left on, with the doors open. I did my duty to go and close the doors and switch the lights off, but after a few mins, the film stopped, and the low-lights came on. No-one came in to tell us why, but someone did go out to ask, and confirmed what I guessed, given the long queue… they waited until everyone had got a drink, THEN restarted the film. Someone (presumably staff) put the lights on again in the meantime, but again, they were left on as it began again, so I did my duty again.
Personally, after scanning in, I was gestured towards the queue for the free drink, but my water and Red Thunder will see me through. I don’t need a hot drink that’ll go cold before I finish it, and then it just gets in the way. Plus, I didn’t fancy standing in that queue for it.
This was at the Trafford Centre, and as I’m curious to check out the seatmaps sometimes, I kept the link for this one and checked it as the credits rolled, and it was jam-packed. The following week’s Nuremberg (well, earlier today, by the time I post my review), was in a smaller screen (3). I expected it would go to this one again (5), but it stayed in 3 and was jammed on the seat map (I didn’t go for another viewing). Maybe in time, even shift to a bigger one like 7 or 14, as these are going to be a weekly event, which is good as it gets everyone out and about. I expect they’ll also just pause the last trailer after it ends, until everyone’s got a drink.
Desperate Journey is in cinemas now, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 105 minutes
Release date: November 28th 2025
Re-release date: January 27th 2026
Studio: Emblem Pictures
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Rating: 4/10
Director: Annabel Jankel
Producers: Warren Derosa, Zsófia Kende
Screenplay: Michael Radford
Music: Ilan Eshkeri
Cast:
Freddie Knoller: Lucas Lynggaard Tønnesen
Jaqueline: Clara Rugaard
Christos: Fernando Guallar
Officer Kurt: Til Schweiger
Raphael: Steven Berkoff
Mrs. Knoller: Sienna Guillory
Mr. Knoller: Ed Stoppard
Eric: George Sear
Pierre: Hugo Speer
Yaakov: Barney Harris
Chef Bossard: Nathaniel Parker
Yvette: Niamh Cusack
Officer Schmitt: Jack Morris
Aiva: Anna Mawn
Colonel Albert: Dominic Allburn
Karl: Louis Ashbourne Serkis
Josef Kieffer: Richard Glover
Mrs. Huberman: Smadi Wolfman
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.