That was an excellent one.
Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay
Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.
View MoreThe movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.
View MoreAvenging Angelo is a mob comedy that stars Sylvester Stallone and Madeleine Stowe together with Anthony Quinn,who appeared in his last film.This movie directed by Martyn Burke tells the simply story of a murdered mob chieftain's bodyguard who provides protection to his boss' daughter.As I have stated in the previous paragraph,the plot here is pretty simplistic and obviously predictable.Stallone plays a disgraced mob hit-man who must protect his dead boss' spoiled and rich daughter.As he successfully managed to do this by slaying one assassin after another who plans to kill the daughter,we get to see them falling for each other in the end.I guess everyone already knew at the time the disgraced hit-man started offering protection.This is action and romantic comedy combined.While everything is clichéd and predictable,one thing that most romantic comedy do wrong is to focus on the plot instead of the characters.The development of the story is called for by the script and the viewer does not see why and how the hit-man and the mob's daughter fell for each other.Also,we see a familiar role that Stallone is known for: a Rambo type for film that is capable of killing the villains on his own.That is why the movie offers nothing new at all and people will see this as just one and the same movies that they saw in a lazy weekend.
View MoreSylvester Stallone isn't the actor to make many comedies. It's been proved in the past that he's tried many a time to shed his action star image by taking on a role that is full out comedy. It seems like though the only kind of comedic role he can play is either a role that involves action or is a parody of an action role. Stallone's best performance is from Tango & Cash (1989) where he partnered up with Kurt Russell as two professional cops who do things completely opposite but team up to take down a common enemy. That's his comedic action role. This movie is his parody of an action role.In this what is of sorts, a comedy revenge film, Stallone plays a bodyguard named Frankie, who is assigned the job of protecting his boss' daughter, Jennifer played by Madeleine Stowe. The catch is, Frankie's boss, Angelo (the late Anthony Quinn) did not tell Jennifer that he is in fact her biological father and would only know when Angelo passed on. Thus creating complications. At first, Jennifer denies such a claim but soon learns that Frankie knows more than she ever could, making her come to grips with the reality and wanting revenge of Angelo's death. The film is directed and written by some not so well known people that will have viewers leery about deciding to watch it - that's understandable.But to be honest, it really isn't all that bad. It's by no means the next biggest laugh out loud film but it does have its moments. First off, here's why this movie is more or less an action parody; how the Italian language is perceived. There is a mob boss called Malatesta - mala is the word for bad and testa is the word for head in Italian. In other words, he's a headache. Of course, if you don't know Italian, that's not the viewer's fault but the point is that the writers did incorporate some sense of humor into the language.The majority of the action that goes on here is all shootings since the plot revolves around mobs, bosses and hits. That's about it, there's one fight scene but it isn't anything being too excited over. But here's the films strongest point, the characters. The way Stallone's character was written has a very good memory and it's funny to watch him ramble off a bunch of information that Jennifer didn't know about or to prove someone else wrong because they were lying. Frankie is that good of a bodyguard. What's also enjoyable is how Frankie disposes of the hit men that try to kill Jennifer. It's done so nonchalantly that it helps make that scene, that much more comical. But in all honesty, not every scene does its job. A lot of the comedy is hit or miss and that's where the film falls flat.Madeleine Stowe does an alright job playing Jennifer because she has no clue how to deal with the mafia. But her character also lacks intelligence on some very well known things – things that involve common sense. It's insulting. As Anthony Quinn's last film, his performance is appropriate since he's Italian he plays what is famously known as the "God father" portrayal. And for what it's worth, it seems like he went out with a smile, which is good, since this film is dedicated to him. Lastly, Bill Conti's music to the film is good too. It has some very sweet piano tunes and goofy Italian related themes. However, the insertion of contemporary music wasn't always needed. It felt too much like the movie was being directed as another genre. For a comedy starring Stallone, it's alright.It is by far from being an excellent comedy but it does work in a number of scenes. It is more of a revenge parody than it is an actual comedy.
View MoreI always thought that this film never got a cinematic release because of Stallone's string of flops, back then. I was wrong!!!'Avening Angelo' is a classic example of decent actors wasted over shallow writing and awful direction. The screen-play (if there was one) is just awful and the director Martyn Burke has no idea where to go with it.The actors, both Sly and Madeleine, ooze charm and look fresh but the thin script really leaves them with no room for performance at all.Sly at times seems too conscious of the camera and doesn't feel comfortable between his toupees and comical gestures. However, he does prove that, yes, he can speak fluently if provided the opportunity:)Another thing I would like to say is that for someone like Sly who has quite a bit of experience of writing screen-plays, he really should have known better than to pick this one.Not worth your time....you're better off leaving this one alone.My rating....3 out of 10!
View MoreWhy bother making a Sylvester Stallone if he's not going to be violent or cool for one scene? He's gotten softer than the entire A-Team combined. It sucks to see him trying to achieve his goals just by merely threatening people like a little school girl. You better give me the information I need or I'll obviously keep shooting around you or hold you in some grip, I'll do anything unless it makes you bleed. The story is shockingly uninteresting because I've seen it hundreds of times before. Maybe the mafia just isn't what it used to be. Stallone's character is not 60 years old which would be logical, the face-lifts and the bull hormones are getting painful to watch. You really start to wonder why this movie was ever made in the first place. With no cinema release, it has to get back the budget from DVD rentals, and why would you rent this when you can just get "Rambo III" and actually see the same guy doing stuff that's lots more entertaining? Despite pathetic,it was still a good choice to go back to his two franchises after this because honestly, this is as relevant as the newest Seagal.
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