Movie Thoughts: Sniff the Dog and the Flying Phantom (2008)

• Released: September 9, 2008
  
• Directed by: Steven de Jong
• Running time: 1 h 37 min
• Rating: 3/5

Synopsis

Some time after the war, Snuf, Tom, Mirjam and Brandenburg are dead-set on solving a case involving a supposed "flying phantom" haunting the local swamps and causing mayhem.

My Thoughts

So we went from fighting Nazis in the first movie to chasing ghosts in the second. Okay then.

However, I did find myself enjoying this film a bit less than the first. It wasn't bad per se, but the drop in stakes is very noticeable and I wasn't all that enticed by the main mystery the film presents: who and what the Vliegende Volckert (of Flying Phantom in English) is and what they want. Honestly the final reveal didn't even get any reaction out of me. No surprise, no shock. Just "oh it was some guy that popped up in some scenes".

Like, the backstory of the guy posing as Vliegende Volckert was interesting. He was bullied as a kid, his mother stood up for him and due to an accident she was killed and the bullied kid vowed revenge on the bullies, and is now finally enacting this revenge many years later under the guise of Vliegende Volckert. But I just...did not care. 

Heck, I think Maeve, a woman introduced in this movie, would've been a much more interesting person to be the Volckert. She was acting very genuine and nice throughout the film, but also seems just a slight bit sketchy. Sketchy enough to make for a good Volckert-suspect without it being too obvious or out-of-nowhere. But nope, she's just a love interest for Brandenburg in the end. I don't know, I think it would've been a cool reveal if she were the Volckert, especially since it could've played into the earlier lines by Mirjam that the Volckert could be a woman rather than a man.

Also, speaking of Mirjam, I really like what they did with her character here. She was introduced relatively late into the first movie, so she didn't get that much of a presence outside of a few scenes to shine. But here she's just a part of the main crew instantly and I like her a lot. She's clever yet careful but also doesn't shy away from danger or adventure. Just a strong female character without making her overly condescending or whatnot. 

But at the same time one thing I kind of wish this movie touched on: what happened to her family? For context, movie one took place during World War II. Mirjam and her family were all Jewish and in hiding in that movie, with eventually her family being taken during a raid but Mirjam managing to escape with the help of Snuf and Tom. After that she stayed with Tjerk, Tom and the rest of the family on the farm, aiding Tom throughout the rest of his adventures. 

In this movie she's...still at the farm. And WWII is over at this point in the movie's universe so...what happened to Mirjam's family? Not a single hint is even given. Are we just supposed to assume something bad happened to them and they didn't make it? That'd be very dark, but that's the closest assumption we have. I really can't think of another reason Mirjam would still be staying with Tom and the rest of the family on the farm. They are friends, sure, but not really in a relationship or anything and the lack of a conclusion just leaves some things to be desired. It would've been so easy to just explain it away with one line, no matter the outcome good or bad. Just say that Mirjam decided to stay and help out on the farm to say thanks to Tom and the family for helping her during the war. But to have such a dark plot point in the first movie regarding Mirjam's family and then leaving it unresolved in the second film which has dark implications isn't that cheerful. 

I'll also say that in this movie Snuf is just as little of a character as he was in the first. He just is a "generic hero dog" archetype and doesn't really have any interesting personality to speak of. Yes, he's an animal, but you can still write an animal as having a personality without anthropomorphizing them. Despite being in the title Snuf is more of an accessory to Tom who sometimes saves the day than an actual character. 

That aside, it's a pretty average film. Not great, not bad. Just okay. The actors do a fine job and I love Mirjam as a character, but aside from that I don't have much I can give it here. If you liked the first you might like this one. Now for the other two Sniff/Snuf movies...we'll get to those later because boy do they make some interesting decisions in those.