The Man from Rome

No pun intended - of course some may not know the man (actor that is) - not everyone has seen or does watch many movies like I and maybe you do. On the other hand, if you are here, there has to be a reason for this, no? Maybe even our main actor is one of those reasons. I quite like him - that said, that doesn't change my feelings towards the movie.

It is a nice B-Action movie - with some interesting casting choices. While I really like Franco Nero - he does phone it in. And can you blame him? That's rhetorical of course. Action and cinematography is also at least decent. So if you are into that kind of thing ... there are worse things or rather movies out there than this ...

Well, I sat down to watch this with fairly low expectations, given some of the reviews I had seen from various media outlets. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was a lot more watchable and interesting than I expected.

Richard Armitage is always good value and he has plenty of charisma onscreen. The supporting cast did a good job, too. Sure, the script was a bit clunky in places, but the plot was quite interesting and it moved at a decent pace.

The locations in Seville and Rome were beautifully shot. The natural light made them look stunning, actually.

So, don't take all the bad reviews at face value. It's not a great movie, but it's quite good and certainly not a waste of your time to watch it.

IN A NUTSHELL: The story is about a computer hacker who penetrates Vatican security and sends an urgent, anonymous plea to the pope. Handsome Father Quart of the church's Institute of External Affairs, an arm of the Vatican Intelligence, is dispatched to investigate. The message of the hacker concerns a crumbling 17th century Baroque church in the heart of Seville that apparently "kills to defend itself." The movie is based on the 1995 novel by Spanish writer Arturo Perez-Reverte called "La Piel del Tambor", which means "the skin of the drum." The film was directed by Sergio Dow. Writing credits go to Adrian Bol, Beth Bollinger, and Gretchen Cowan.

The movie is set in Spain and uses many Spanish actors; however, the movie is in English.

THINGS I LIKED: Some of the stand-out cast members include Richard Armitage, Paul Guilfoyle, Amaia Salamanca, Alicia Borrachero, Franco Nero, Fionnula Flanagan, Carlos Cuevas.

The opening scene was perfect.

The movie is set in Spain. I lived in Spain twice for a couple of years and loved it! One of the cities I visited was Sevilla, so I loved seeing it in the movie! We get to see a typical Spanish religious procession, a flamenco show.

The cinematography is beautiful.

The movie was released in Spain in October 2022, and now released in the USA in 2023.

The movie is filmed in Spanish but dubbed in English.

Fantastic close-ups.

We get to see some gorgeous Catholic churches and interiors in Spain and Italy. We even get to visit the Vatican. I'm not Catholic, but I absolutely respect all religions and appreciate their buildings and beautiful artwork.

Lovely music.

Some of the characters are instantly likeable like those played by Richard Armitage, Alicia Borrachero, and Carlos Cuevas.

Is it just me or do you also think Victor Mallarino looks a little bit like a Spanish Ray Romano?

The ending is satisfying for many reasons: we learn the truth, loose ends are tied up, and we learn more about faith.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: Sometimes, it's hard to understand what people were saying.

There are a lot of things to read on the screen that are written in Spanish with no subtitles. Most of the time, the words aren't crucial to the story.

The fight scenes aren't particularly creative.

TIPS FOR PARENTS: We see several dead bodies, lying in a pool of blood.

Profanity, including F-bombs.

Some violence with weapons, as well as hand-to-hand combat.

We see a man in the shower (private parts are not seen) A priest kisses a woman.

We see some murders.

Priests fight and kill others.

!

I do not know the book inspiring this film. Enough for me is to see the embroidery of cliches , satisfied to discover Franco Nero and Fionnula Flannagan decent performing and to guess than Richard Armitage has as virtues his body and the fights against bad boys - and the scars, off course.

I saw it for the religious frame and, indeed, this part , not ignoring the boring references to rivalries, Banca Ambrosiana and coruption of ierarchs is pretty OK. . In rest , familiar cliches. Not convincing but hard used, from a sort to romance to the hero as version of Prince Charming and predictable end.

So, reasonable film- indeed, with use of tea spoon of indulgence-.

I was hoping this film would be more action/horror based than cerebral.. Sadly it was more the latter. The action scenes were pretty naff to be honest and really needed beefing up to give the whole film more bite. The long periods of relative inactivity saw some reasonable acting.

Got to admit i have a soft spot for these Euro collaborations, they nearly wlays end up being a mixed bag.

Richard Armitage is pretty comvincing as a Bible Bond, it's just a shame he didn't flex his muscles enough or, like i said previously, be hamstrung by some extremely ropey fight choreography.

All in it's watchable, i gave it a generous 6 but it's more like a 5, a few more better choreographed fights and it would be a solid 6 IMHO.