Golden Men

I was very willing to watch this movie, especially to see Matilde Gioli, a natural special effect of her own. However, the first 30 minutes went by without an effort on the director's part to build sympathy or at least interest for the lead characters.

The main problem with recent Italian action / thriller films is that they try to become distinctive by use of "ethnic" stuff (like diving deep into dialects) rather than by coming up with authentic visual ways of naratting the story.

The difference between made-for-TV Italian fiction and theatrical releases has become almost invisible due to the former getting better as the latter is losing impact.

The colors, overall feel and character portrayals in this one reminds me of Michele Soavi's powerful "Arrivederci amore ciao", without coming even close to its level of grittiness and depth.

Sorry for the low score, but nothing with the first half hour promotes anything a random Hollywood heist flick can't, and there are just too many movies around to bear with one for longer than that in the absence of originality.

(I must admit that I did get to see enough of Matilde Gioli in an intimate scene, though)