Diabolik - Ginko all'attacco!

The movie is overall very nice and enjoyable. Nice reconstruction of the Diabolik world. Nice costumes. Nice cartoonish scenography. Good overall acting for such kind of film. Just one big stain on it... and therefore a big question..... why to ruin an overall well made movie with the horrible acting of Monica Bellucci and why choose (or accept) to soft focus (or photoshop) her face (and only her) all around the movie when she appear in the scenes? I know... her presence will probably open additional markets to the movie... but I stil don't understand.... Maybe she paid to be in the film if soft focused?

No pun intended - I assume you have seen at least the first Diabolik movie (the predecessor for this that is and not the Mario Bava movie from the 60s). With that in mind, all major returning characters are being played by the same actors ... except the one that should matter the most: Diabolik ... it is a different actor altogether! For whatever reason (I did not check for the reason to be honest) ... I won't speculate.

What I can say is that this does not fair as good as the first movie. I can only hope that part 3 ramps things up a bit ... maybe with another Diabolik actor? I would not really be surprised. We get some new characters and actors added - mainly Monica Belucci - if you know her, you probably love or loved her at one time. She still has the charisma - but some people who criticize the movie say she is not close to the characters she is supposed to portray ... something I can't confirm or deny, since I have not read any of the comic books (graphic novels) ... not the best throwback ever (go to the original), but not the worst either.

No doubt, this movie is very bad, much worse than predecessor, even worse than the worst comic-book episode. Plot is naïve with lot of illogical points. One has to invest a lot of suspension of disbelief if wants to endure it. But... If you do not take it seriously, you can relax and enjoy it. So bad that it is good, great guilty pleasure, genuine camp. By the way, reconstruction of 1960s is nice, with great accessories and, of course, Italian cars and Italian cities (with my favorite Trieste).

Ms. Bellucci's acting was so bad that I think she was self-ironical and intentionally making fun of the movie. I prefer Mr. Marinelli from the first movie as Diabolik. Better actor with charisma and better looks for main character. Mr. Gianniotti luckily does not have a lot of screen time what is kind of ironic too. Ms. Leone is gorgeous as always.

As a real fan of Diabolik (I still hold the first 690 original set of comics books), I can say that I preferred the first movie, this second episodes ok has the same noir/comic slow action which is good, it brings a new actor as Diabolik (vote: 8) and I say he is perfect, cute guy like in the comic books and the eyes and the face reminds the original character, Miriam Leone again as a perfect Eva Kant (vote:8) .. but what is missing: ... the refuge is the same as in the 1st movie, too many shots are on Ginko (we have to digest actor Mastandrea with his Roman accent.. vote 5.... and Ginko was a cute man in the comics!), then a catastrofing acting by Monica Bellucci (vote 3 for me ... the actress is the anthitesis of the high class of Altea...). The overall rating is just as flat as a six.

The sequel beats the same path as Diabolik (2021): a stylistic throwback to the 1960s and the (European mystery) cinema of the time, with a close adaptation of the feeling of the comic book. Unfortunately this means that it carries all the flaws of its predecessor, coming across as somewhat flat in performance, or didactic in the exposition. The overall vibe of the first movie was interesting enough to make it worth watching, but now the novelty effect starts to wear off. Isn't the planned trilogy too much, an experiment that has gone on for too long not to come across as self-serving?

The new plot doesn't make up for it. Eva Kant is replaced as the real focus of the film by Ginko, the police inspector relentlessly trying to track down Diabolik (like Ganimard to Lupin). Unfortunately, he's not as captivating of a character as Ms. Kant. Luca Marinelli has been replaced by Giacomo Gianniotti as the actor performing Diabolik, and thankfully he's barely given any screentime: while he may be physically more convincing he's less skilled than Marinelli and he's nowhere mysterious or charismatic enough for anyone to believe he should be this story's lead. Monica Bellucci simply shouldn't have been cast.

Not terrible, but it's a notch down from the first and it's increasingly showing a lack of direction. I worry for what's to come.