This film has been marketed as the Italian answer to the French ganster films Mesrine: Killer Instinct and Mesrine: Public Enemy No 1. I really enjoyed the brace of Mesrine films - Vincent Cassel had such charisma on screen in the title role he made for a compelling gangster.
So would Angels of Evil, like Mesrine based on a real person, live up to the comparison?
For a gangster film to work for me, there needs to be some depth to the baddie's characters or a least charm to win me over to their side. If I don't care whether they get caught or not - which is, in essence what most of these films boil down to - then they don't work.
Angels of Evil's lead crim is Renato, played by the almost giggle-inducingly handsome Kim Rossi Stuart. Renato was a Milanese mobster, famous in the 1970s for a spate of robberies, kidnapping and murder.
Renato is not so much drawn into but drawn to a life crime as a child, stealing and selling on the swag with a gang of friends. He doesn't see himself doing anything else.
The film follows his rise to notoriety and power battles with a rival mob. He is a charmer, audacious in his crimes and escapes, sometimes recording interviews with local radio stations while on the run. Part of the charm, and ultimately his weakness, is an intense loyalty towards his gang for whom he will take the fall when mistakes are made.
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