Diabolik

I know about "Diabolik" as a character from a comic book, though I actually never read it. So as I sat down to watch this 2021 Italian movie from directors Antonio Manetti and Marco Manetti, I didn't really know what to expect.

Writers Antonio Manetti, Marco Manetti, Michelangelo La Neve and Mario Gomboli put together an entertaining storyline and script for the movie. Sure, it was a pretty straight forward crime heist mystery, but there was still something that worked about it. Perhaps it was a mixture of the storyline and character gallery.

With my very limited exposure to the Italian cinema, then I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble at all. But they definitely had some good talents on the cast list, especially the leading actors Luca Marinelli (playing Diabolik) and Valerio Mastandrea (playing Ginko), as well as leading actress Miriam Leone (playing Lady Kant).

There is a good amount of mystery, action and character development throughout the course of the 133 minutes that the movie ran for. And I will say that I didn't find a single dull moment throughout the runtime of the movie. So thumbs up to directors Antonio Manetti and Marco Manetti on that accomplishment.

Visually then "Diabolik" was good. It wasn't a movie that made use of a whole lot of CGI. But the effects in the movie worked well in favor of the overall movie. And the wardrobe department definitely also did a good jobs.

If you haven't seen "Diabolik" yet, and enjoy a heist movie laced with mystery elements, then give this 2021 Italian movie a chance.

My rating of "Diabolik" lands on a six out of ten stars.

"Diabolik" is nowhere as bad as people make it out to be: it's certainly flawed (mostly from pacing issues) but it's solid, well-directed and acted, and fairly respectful of the source material. Is this a masterpiece? No. Is this the "rebirth of Italian genre movies"? No, but it's fun and entertaining to watch if you don't expect to go see Citizen Kane.

A note: obviously, Italian press reviews are hating on this movie only because they tried to make something different from the otherwise monotonous theathrical panorama: it's beyond me why every single time someone tries to make a genre movie in Italy, press is always demolishing the effort, there's no surprise the film catalogue isn't evolving much as it should.

Surely we are faced with a film with several defects, especially in the final part where the script goes too far and the photography is perhaps too like a TV movie, but the film is still fun and entertaining and has a nice retro 60's taste, the cast good expecially beautiful and talented Miriam Leone as Eva Kant, also excellent Mastandrea as Ginkgo, Marinelli, who was very good in They call me Jeeg, in this film he struggles a bit but still gives an appreciable performance as Diabolik. In conclusion a nice film but nothing more. My rating is 6/10.

As a lover of the original comics (I still have the first 690 numbers), I would say that this is a nice movie. The scenography, the locations, the actors, all have a good "noir" style. Whoever is expecting a more fast rhytm of the action and more special effects doesn't understand that this is an entire recostruction of a paper comics, of the 60s, and it seems that the movie itself has been filmed and produced in those years... We realize this when we see the plastic door of the refuge of Diabolik, the masks, and other details which seem rough and simple, when cinematography didn't have yet the CGI or advanced special effects. Then with a slow rhytm action our attention is more focused on the particulars of the scenes, the characters, the single details, as well as we do when we see the designs on paper. Genious. Ginko character vote 3 (actor Mastandrea is not as pretty as the paper character and has a wrong Roman accent..), Diabolik Marinelli vote 7 (just ok, and with the same eyes and height of the original character :), Eva Kant 10 perfect! (The beauty and the charm by Miriam Leone). Ok to find some defects in the movie, but the lovers of the comics will enjoy watching it.

Michael Jackson would know - I mean no pun intended of course. First things first: neither have I seen the Mario Bava movie (60s I believe) nor have I read the source material. So no idea how this fares to either of those. I did watch the direct sequel though (part 2, part 3 was not out at the time of writing in Germany).

Even without seeing that there is a Bava movie, I would have said this feels like a throwback. In many senses - the main female character may be a bit more "modern", but almost everything in the movie has a 60s vibe to it. And I am not just talking about the time/era this plays in ... we do get to see a partial nude behind ... not sure that was something that movies did back in the 60s ... but let's not get hung up on ... well "butts". Again no pun intended as always.

The main character (see title) is quite the interesting anti hero. He is anything but a good guy ... and yet we may find ourselves rooting for him. There is a big twist that does not make much sense - (non existing) dialog wise, but if you suspend your disbelief you will have fun with the movie ... and its roller coaster ride!