Mjeteconer
Just perfect...
Stevecorp
Don't listen to the negative reviews
Derrick Gibbons
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
zkonedog
When reviewing "Avenging Angelo", there really are only about two avenues down which a reviewer can proceed. The first choice is to say that it is a terrible film, devoid of any semblance of plot or point, and filled with stupid little puns and jokes that really aren't all that funny. If you would take this approach, you would probably be backed by most of the American population, as this film never actually made it to cinemas and ended up a "straight-to-DVD" production.Yet, for viewers of "Angelo" familiar with Sylvester Stallone's "unique" brand of humor, this will be one of the most entertaining (if not all that important) films you ever watch. As a fan of Stallone, I have sat viewed the good (Rocky, Rambo), the bad (Demolition Man, The Specialist), and the ugly (Stop or My Mom Will Shoot!, Shade), and this film fits none of those categories as it is so unique.The basic plot centers on Stallone's character, Frankie, trying to avenge the death of his "beloved mob boss" Angelo (played by Anthony Quinn in his final role ever before his death). To do so, Frankie vows to protect Angelo's daughter Jennifer (Madeleine Stowe) from the mob scene, but (in predictable fashion) begins to fall in love with her, and (slowly) she with him.Unfortunately, besides some decent chemistry between Stallone and Stowe, the plot completely fails on pretty much all accounts (it isn't compelling, it doesn't lead anywhere, etc.), thus the likely reason it never went to theaters. In fact, the crucial opening scenes between Frankie and Angelo need subtitles in order to understand, as Quinn's voice is so raspy. Basically, the plot is a complete and utter failure.Why the four-star rating then? If you have ever seen Sly Stallone on TV appearances (Letterman, Leno, etc.), you know that his "brand" of humor is far different than most actors. Sly will tell a stupid joke ("pooping machine with hooves") or make a ridiculous statement ("snip ropes"), get absolutely no response, yet continue on as if he were Robin Williams or Jim Carrey, providing the REAL humor of the situation. That EXACT same type of humor is played up to its fullest in this movie, and is a complete hoot! Whether it be stuffing a burglar into a wheelbarrow, "farting squirrels" in the walls, or Sly telling Jennifer's boyfriend to "reconsider" before fighting him, you (if a fan of Stallone) will be one the floor laughing.So if you have 90 minutes to spare, are a fan of Sylvester Stallone, and would like to lighten your mood a bit, this film will be perfect for you. There's no plot to worry about, no high-action to dazzle you, just a good old fashion "bad" movie that is hilarious for that exact reason.
Desertman84
Avenging Angelo is a mob comedy that stars Sylvester Stallone and Madeleine Stowe together with Anthony Quinn,who appeared in his last film.This movie directed by Martyn Burke tells the simply story of a murdered mob chieftain's bodyguard who provides protection to his boss' daughter.As I have stated in the previous paragraph,the plot here is pretty simplistic and obviously predictable.Stallone plays a disgraced mob hit-man who must protect his dead boss' spoiled and rich daughter.As he successfully managed to do this by slaying one assassin after another who plans to kill the daughter,we get to see them falling for each other in the end.I guess everyone already knew at the time the disgraced hit-man started offering protection.This is action and romantic comedy combined.While everything is clichéd and predictable,one thing that most romantic comedy do wrong is to focus on the plot instead of the characters.The development of the story is called for by the script and the viewer does not see why and how the hit-man and the mob's daughter fell for each other.Also,we see a familiar role that Stallone is known for: a Rambo type for film that is capable of killing the villains on his own.That is why the movie offers nothing new at all and people will see this as just one and the same movies that they saw in a lazy weekend.
slightlymad22
Continuing my plan to watch every Sly Stallone movie in his filmography in order, I come to Avenging Angelo.Plot In A Paragraph: Jennifer (Madeline Stowe) discovers she is the daughter of a murdered Mafia boss, when his faithful bodyguard (Stallone) turns up'Avenging Angelo' tries to be a lot of things, mob movie, revenge movie and a love story And it ends up being none of them and a mess in general. Bill Conti's score, Sly's voice over and Anthony Quinn (in his last movie) are the only things worth seeing here. I can't complain too much about this movie. Snore through it, maybe, (as I fell asleep twice before I managed to watch it all the way through on my third attempt) but not complain.I found Sly's "hair" distracting, also the fact that Jennifer's mansion is so scarcely decorated (Did they run out of money for the set furniture??) distracted me, and some awful supporting actors Billy Gardell and Harry Von Gorgum being the worst offenders For a man who is meant to be "in the shadows watching" and is always told to "Keep the distance" it's ludicrous that he is prominent in so many photographs of Jennifer (stood watching her on a merry-go- round or with his head popped over a fence) Made at a low point in Sly Stallone's career, 'Avenging Angelo' is easily one of the worst movies Sly has made. And is THE worst movie he made since 'Rocky'.Anthony Quinn deserved better than this to be his last movie. As for Stowe she is no longer the beautiful stunner from 'Stakeout' plastic surgery or too much Botox, has left her face almost expressionless. We do get plenty of shots of her ass when Sly is teaching her how to walk (yes he really teaches her how to walk!!) And what of Stallone. He walked away from his most famous roles in action flicks, saying "I want to make more movie subjects that will extend me as an actor" yet nothing came up trumps since 1993 when he had both 'Cliffhanger' and 'Demolition Man' do well. The sooner he gets back to real action flicks the better. He remains watchable as always, but these are not ninety of his better minutes.
berberian00-276-69085
This is the last film of actor Anthony Quinn after a career of 60 years in cinema with more than 150 appearances and half dozen Academy awards. He holds the record of longest active professional life in Hollywood though somebody lived longer but were not active. Paradoxically, I myself consider Anthony Quinn a man with little cinematographic talent and yet he participate in so many films that I love - favorite movies. This is rare phenomenon in art, showing how film industry acts as a monopoly where success is in no way dependent on a single person but is aggregate (or macro) from the efforts of a collective. That's nothing new under the sun.I want to correspond here my overall impressions from actor Anthony Quinn and not about the real life man since there are other people to judge him. Quinn wrote himself a biography in 1972 which shows that obviously he wasn't well aware of his future. But he always had around him a staff of fully functional intelligent men that were ready to delve with his minutest problems fee-for-service. The sometimes sickening and bad image on screen is always compensated with next following that looks good and convincing. That means that there were always paid people around to heed. Because Anthony Quinn had so many hidden personalities that were product of nearby consultants I see that man not as a unity but as 10 people playing simultaneously. As if I see a Turkish sultan carried over by his servants and yet he is impressive and untouchable.To tell the truth since I consider him a bad actor it remains consequently that only his remarkable physique carried his performances for so long. Evidently that physique of a heavyweight boxing champion was enough argument for producers and directors to employ him. This seems to have its logical explanation since Hollywood didn't have the habit to recruit Black Americans in leading roles until mid 1950s. And from anthropological view of point Negroes in America are the largest reservoir of physical sturdiness and fitness. I am not talking here about issues of racism and things before the great Civil War which seem to be still alive in America and abroad.I want to pool out for our host here some of my best choices from Anthony Quinn's long film list - certainly, "25th Hour" (1967), "Lion of the Desert" (1981), "High Risk" (1981), "Revenge" (1990) but also other movies that I watched as a youth and liked very much. As conclusion, I want to say to the people reading here never to compare outwardly Anthony Quinn with his corollary Marlon Brando - those are two separate entities staying on opposite poles of the human continuum. Thank You!
