'Hunted City' (1979) aka 'Sbirro, la tua legge è lenta... la mia... no!' While somewhat of a later entry in the piledriving Poliziotteschi cannon, it has much to recommend it to avid Euro-cult fans! The remarkably dynamic filmmaker, Stelvio Massi & the no less estimable Thespian, Maurizio Merli, are said to have been great friends, and this tangible chemistry translates into yet another adrenalin-spiking, violently gun-happy, rousingly eventful, Gangland-busting classic! Featuring a rare, low-key performance from erstwhile tyro Thespian, Merli, his tempered steeliness adds some welcome nuance to his default, twin-fisted, vengeful cop persona; and, as ever, the powerfully charismatic, characteristically rotund, Mario Merola excels as the bovine, violence-prone hood, Raffaele Acampora.
Stelvio Massi's beloved poliziotteschi are unusually robust, thrillingly watchable affairs, and his propulsive, 'Hunted City' is certainly no exception! Particularly noteworthy are Massi's dynamic, visually savvy camera angles which eke as much tension as possible from scenarios that might strike one as wildly pedestrian in a lesser director's timorous hand! All the pistol-packed poliziotteschi goodness is present and correct in, 'Hunted City': gratuitous car carnage, squalls of slo-mo squibbage, and Merli's lobotomising fisticuffs to quell errant thugs pixillated brains!!!! This singularly sterling, Merli/Massi collaboration remains an exhilarating one, and absolutely worthwhile B-Movie entertainment for cannier celluloid thrill-seekers, Euro-crime newbies, and degenerated, twist-headed psychotronic lags such as I!
