Diabolik: Ginko Attacks

This film isn't satisfying. The image of the king of terror is a mirage. The character of Diabolik is difficult to represent in a film but the choice of this actor is a mistake bigger than the choice of the actor of the first film. Gianniotti is a gorgeous man but the beauty of this man isn't different from the sex appeal of Diabolik. His apparitions aren't unexpected and spectral but to tell the truth with this man the character of Diabolik results boring.

Valerio Mastrandrea as Ginko results better than Diabolik but worse than in the first film. The reason probably is the general plot of the story too long and with very few action scenes and for a Diabolik's story is a fatal error.

Monica Bellucci as Althea is an evanescent character, totally extraneous from the story.

The only character that is very well characterized is Eva Kant, interpreted by Miriam Leone, that is similar to Eva not only for physical elements but also for the personality.

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?

I sat down to watch the 2022 Italian movie "Diabolik: Ginko All'attacco!" (aka "Diabolik: Ginko Attacks!") shortly after having sat down to watch the 2021 movie "Diabolik", which I rather enjoyed.

However, writers Antonio Manetti, Marco Manetti and Michelangelo La Neve dropped the ball here. This 2022 sequel was nowhere as entertaining or enjoyable as the 2021 movie. And that was rather disappointing, especially since "Diabolik: Ginko All'attacco!" hardly felt like it belonged as a sequel, since the Diabolik character wasn't really given all that much screen time.

Luca Marinelli played Diabolik in the 2021, but he had been replaced by Giacomo Gianniotti, whom had zero charisma and both looked and felt like a fish out of water on the screen. Does see Valerio Mastandrea and Miriam Leone return to reprise the roles of Ispettore Ginko and Eva Kant respectively.

There wasn't much of any burglary, thieving, heists, or much of anything going on in "Diabolik: Ginko All'attacco!", and that made sitting through 116 minutes of this movie from directors Antonio Manetti and Marco Manetti quite a tiresome ordeal. Yet, I managed to endure the movie, thinking that something was bound to liven up the movie as the clock was running out, but nothing happened.

"Diabolik: Ginko All'attacco!" was a slap to the face with a cold dead fish if you enjoyed the 2021 movie.

My rating of "Diabolik: Ginko All'attacco!" lands on a generous four out of ten stars.

What else to say? If the Italian film industry keeps financing their movies with taxpayer's money, I believe they will never be able to be as relevant as they were after post WW2. Every film and television production becomes a money grabbing feast at the expenses of the taxpayers (and the industry itself). Millions of euros gets stolen from the budget for personal gain or to cover for their companies debt. It's mayhem, and it show in this miserable trilogy (and the overall state of Italian cinema).

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.