Organnall Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Scotty Burke It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

pfsombrero Well, one year after his release I finally watch "They Call Me Jeeg". I had great expectations for this movie, and most of it was met. This movie tell the story of a "superhero" produced in Italy and directed and interpreted by Italian director and actors,who have become accustomed to the usual "cine-panettoni", I can call it a "small masterpiece". Of course, it is not perfect, in fact in some points the acting (in some cases), the accuracy of certain details, the characterization of some characters and the audio of the movie(although, all in all, in a few moments). Finally, after seeing 1173 movies in my life, I think I can say that this movie deserves a lot, considering also Gabriele Mainetti's still not have many experiences as a director. So I suggest to all those who have lost it to dedicate 1: 52h of their time. Thanks for reading and regards from Sombrero.

Javier Negron Oh my, just when I thought I see it all, another hidden gem surprises me. This movie has everything, and even when I think I will never see a more controversial relationship between two main characters since "Leon, The Professional", Enzo and Alessia appear. A weird movie, with a rare plot, but I need to say that better than a lot of American superheros movies that saturate the cinematography year by year these days. Just hope this will not be just a one hit wonder and the director continue these franchise because they could have a future if they make the right moves. A sad story, with a non-conventional approach, for be "a superhero movie", but that is well executed and will take a place between my favorite films outside of Hollywood. Great work!!!!

rajkovicmarko Set in Rome, this film follows the stories of two men living in the suburbs. Enzo, the hero, reincarnates the classic criminal who has nothing worth to lose. His only satisfaction left, are his habits, which are pretty pathetic. Enzo doesn't care about anything, health, nutrition or social relationships. He doesn't even care much about money, as his profession would suggest. He is not the person that asks too much when he is offered a new job. Enzo seems comfortable with his loneliness. He is nothing you would expect a superhero to be like, even before owning superpowers.On the other side, Zingaro, the villain. He is not the classic megalomaniac and lunatic villain, who aims to own the world. Zingaro works with a few guys, looking for the upper step in the criminal context of Rome. As seen in many gangster movies, Zingaro plays the unofficial leader, who always tries to show his madness and pretends respect, sometimes in a pretty crazy way.The main difference between these two characters are their aspirations. While Enzo looks for a monotonous low-level criminal life to afford his pleasures: eating yogurt and watching porn movies, Zingaro looks for his position in the top gangsters of Rome.What excited me about this movie is the missing superhero-classic transformation of Enzo when he gains superpowers. While you would expect Enzo to become a people-caring superhero, he remains in his dark habitat and steals for him. In fact, the first thing he does when he figures out what he is capable of, is literally stealing an ATM. The only transformation is not caused by his superpowers, but by Alessia, a lunatic girl who lives in her fantastic world and has an enormous passion for the Japanese anime Steel Jeeg. Thanks to her, Enzo discovers the meaning of taking care of another person. He discovers love. Even if he know that Alessia has some mind-related problems, he doesn't feel any pity. When Alessia dies, he doesn't look for any revenge. Instead he tries to follow Alessia's dreams: being a superhero, just like Steel Jeeg. This will lead him to battle Zingaro, who earned the same superpowers Enzo owns. While Zingaro offers him a criminal partnership (something he have already seen in Spiderman - 2002), Enzo changed. He doesn't want to be a bad person anymore and fights Zingaro until the end.

James De Bello Enzo Ceccoti (Claudio Santamaria) is a small time thief living in the poor suburbs of Rome under the same roof as more dangerous criminals lead by the 'Zingaro' (Luca Marinelli) from which he occasionally accepts dirty, little jobs. On one of these, whilst escaping from the police, he accidentally trips into a tank of radioactive material and ends up gaining super powers. As a threat rises in the city Enzo has to decide where his morals lie."They Call me Jeeg Robot" ("Lo Chiamavano Jeeg Robot" original title) comes in as one of the first major Italian production in the super hero genre. Whilst it can't be faulted for lack of diversity and originality, it doesn't manage to transcend genre clichés in a interesting way and because of an overall faulty execution it can be defined as a fine film on its own, yet nothing, unfortunately, remarkable in the genre.The new ideas that spark from the film are many, not all of them work and some are actually the reason the film isn't amazing, but the writers have to be commended for some tropes they manage to subvert and some beautiful touches they manage to add. Ilenia Pastorelli plays Enzo's slightly off balance neighbor and whilst the performances jumps up and down from highs to lows, the character always has something deeply touching about her. I want to avoid spoilers of any sort here, but to sum it up her dynamic was clearly thought out and executed with a pleasant delicacy that was required and hard to hit.Claudio Santamaria is actually an excellent protagonist and one of few words, which Santamaria pulls off greatly. Of all the characters in the film, his was the only one that never lost audience attachment and always gave a clear vision of his motivations and his development. His arch might not be as original as people think, actually quite the contrary, but he is brought to life with an affection and an attention to detail that makes him a character worth following.From a directorial point of view there are many things that could be said both in positive and negative side. What is interesting is to see a first time feature director bring to life such a particular vision. I don't use particular randomly because there are many tonal flaws and ideas that don't work, but there is a very solid voice in the directing and Mainetti pulls his vision off, making his world live and breathe an unusual diversity and an atmosphere that is dark and twisted in its very own way.Where the film looses steam is in some of the performances, coming admittedly from undeveloped or cartoonish characters, from plot turns that result deeply clichéd and deprive the film of a depth it was hinting, but most of all the tonal shifts are all over the place and make for a disjointed experience where you loose track of where the moral balance lies. From darkly comic interventions, to full on dramatic character explosions, to comedic light moments that don't really belong where they are, these continuous shifts make the film really choppy and undermine its world building which is another element it really lacks. We don't understand where in the world the story takes place fictionally, we don't understand the rules of this land, the social climate is never clear for the audience and since it seems that the film is actually making quite an effort to make you understand it, since it plays an important role in the storytelling, the fact that I didn't grasp it was all the more underwhelming.On an action and technical level the film does have merits for managing to cope with such a small budget and making out of it something that is fully deserving of theatrical release. It shows that this is Mainetti's first feature and many edges have to be rounded off in the action department: the hits are never shown on camera. On the other hand, the director uses the hand-held shot in a particularly pleasing way, making the shots breathe and giving each of them multiple beats which is always nice to see.Whilst this movie will not be remembered in the hall of great super hero films from this era it is good to see different personalities jump into the genre and give their own wild take on it even if not succeeding in a masterful execution.