Mon nom est Vendetta

This is a decent foreign thriller about a defected Mafia hitman who resurfaces due to a happenstance of his attempt to lead an anonymous new life. When the Mob discovers he is alive they come after him, and his family, seeking to kill them. Of course it is not that simple. He is not an easy man to kill. Accompanied by his surviving daughter he seeks to finish what he started years earlier. There is a slight similarity in this film, to The Professional, with Jean Renault and Natalie Portman; however, this one is not as good. There is decent action. The cast is decent enough and the cinematography is good. Decent enough, but not the best.

"To kill or be killed. This is the law. Showing mercy is just a sign of weakness. It's a lesson I wish I could forget." Santo (Alessandro Gassmann)

In My Name is Vendetta, you can transport the manic spirit of Taken to Milan by way of Sicily, and you have your father, daughter fix mixed with the Sicilian Mafia. Violent action does not get better than this with Santo and young daughter Sofia (Ginevra Francesconi) on the run and running to revenge on a Sicilian Mafia that slaughtered his brother and wife.

It's not as stylized as Kill Bill or John Wick, but it has a familial charm with good camera and lighting work.

While you can see immediately this is not one of my usual art films; it is rather a thriller with the popular American motif of family reconciliation prevalent today in our super-hero films and family dramas. Netflix gives you a holiday retreat from goody-goody to exercise your natural instinct at self-preservation with naughty on the side.

It's a smart, bloody business emphasizing the central role now occupied by smart-phone technology. Facial recognition propels the action as bad guys can find good guys by connecting photos from your phone to your current location if you should be foolish enough to snap one when your dad warned you against taking it.

So the tech goes as everybody tracks everybody to lead to a final confrontation between Santo and Mafia boss, Angelo (Remo Girone). Sofia, with better-than-middlin' action skills, participates to bring home the sweetness between father and daughter and exciting action tropes.

My name is Vendetta (a descriptive title if there ever was one) is simply good old-fashioned revenge thrills set in a Euro-trash world whose menace is better because we watch from the safety of our homes.

Just remember, your phone is ever the willing partner in crime.

Netflix knows.

To enjoy this, fully suspend disbelief and be a fan of the John Wick series. Without spoiling the plot, let's just say that the script is highly inconsistent in terms of basic plot points.

For example, are you high tech (face recognition) or low tech (phone tracing)? Are you heavily guarded, or not a guard in sight?

What's good though are the action scenes and acting, given the weak material and dialogue. Ended up being invested to the end, thanks in part to the short runtime.

Overall, a decent entry into the mindless revenge category, with a more plausible motivation than "you killed my dog".

Although this is not a great film, it's nonetheless, watchable. It's fast-paced with a few heartfelt dramatic moments. The truth is, the plot is straightforward so the viewer should not expect any surprises except perhaps the ending.

There have been revenge films made before. But what could set this apart is that it's a father-and-teenaged daughter affair. It starts in a idyllic setting somewhere in Bolzano (mention is made of Merano which is near the German border). The viewer should find the scenes here quite picturesque. Then, it shifts to an urban setting.

The fight scenes are realistic if not gory; nothing is exaggerated. Santo/Domenico is a mean killing machine who believes that the law is kill or be killed. The action sequences are well-executed.

Alessandro Gassman and Ginebra Francesconi are a good pair. They portray convincingly their roles as doting father and loving daughter, whose teenaged life is abbreviated by ugly circumstances. Gassman fits the role of a punisher. In fact, the vibes of the film is reminiscent of Jon Bernthal's "The Punisher."

If you have time to spare, watch this one.

This movie borders on the edge of fantasy. The story is based around settling of vendettas using surveillance techniques that are so far-fetched. The characters are not that interesting, and the daughter borders on being the most annoying movie character ever devised. Everything she is told not to do, she does, and it doesn't help that she is dressed to look like some character from a bygone era. She faces no consequences for her dumb actions, and puts the blame for the action that is the basis of the story, on her father, never mind that she is the person who puts his picture on the internet after she is warned not to do so. The story is weak and borders on fantasy. In short, it's just a silly movie!