Armie Hammer’s redemption bid hits a wall as his new movie is banned overseas
Armie Hammer is finally speaking up about the scandal that blew up his career, saying he owns the mess and is clawing back with the controversial Citizen Vigilante — even as the movie is effectively banned in Germany and he asks Hollywood for a second chance.
After years of scandal-induced exile, Armie Hammer is trying to claw his way back into Hollywood's good books. His latest project, Citizen Vigilante, is making headlines — not just for its subject matter but because it's effectively been shut out of Germany. So, just when Hammer manages to snag a film role after half a decade in the wilderness, the controversy isn’t letting up.
Back from the Brink
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Hammer talked honestly about the damage to his career and his quest to start over. According to him, simply getting the call from director Uwe Boll after five long years of zero work was a bit of a tearjerker:
'I'm pretty sure I cried. It was just this moment where I was like: I'm going to get to do the thing that I love more than anything.'
He also admitted — in a distinctly un-Hollywood move — that he'd have taken pretty much any acting gig at that point. As for his spectacular fall from grace, he didn’t dodge the mess. In his words:
'I made these problems for myself. This didn’t happen to me by a fluke accident.'
Hammer stood his ground that he hadn't done what people alleged, but he wasn’t pretending he’d done nothing wrong.
Citizen Vigilante — Out of Bounds in Germany
Now about the film itself: Citizen Vigilante is directed by none other than Uwe Boll (yes, that Uwe Boll), and stars Hammer as a rich American in Zagreb who decides he’s had enough and turns vigilante, dishing out his own brand of justice to violent offenders. Costas Mandylor (you’ll know him from the Saw films) is on hand as the Interpol chief trying to stop him.
Things took a properly weird turn with the ratings board in Germany (the FSK), which outright refused to classify the movie at all. And if there’s no age rating? The film can’t be sold, streamed, or screened in the country — that’s game over, basically.
Why the fuss? According to a statement from Boll, the FSK thinks the film endorses vigilantism. Boll isn’t taking that lying down, either. He’s claimed the decision tramples on Germany’s artistic freedoms (he’s waving Article 5 of Germany’s Basic Law about, just in case anyone missed it) and accuses the board of silencing commentary on crime and migration instead of genuinely protecting young people.
- Plot foundation: The story is inspired by a real-life rape case in Hamburg, where the perpetrators, tried under juvenile law, walked away with suspended sentences.
- Cast: Armie Hammer stars as the vigilante, with Costas Mandylor as his dogged Interpol adversary.
- German distribution: Germany’s FSK denied classification, blocking all release there and stoking debate over censorship versus youth protection.
- North American release: The film is set to arrive 19 June, but only outside Germany’s borders.
In classic Uwe Boll fashion, the ban in Germany seems to have given the film a bit more notoriety than it might have had otherwise.