Robbing Mussolini (2022) User Reviews

It's watchable

[krachtm · 5/10 · 17 November 2022]

There's nothing so wrong with this movie that it ever becomes unwatchable, but there isn't really a good reason to watch it, either. It starts off fine, but as it went on, I became increasingly restless. The number of derivative and predictable plot elements really started to pile up, and the pacing felt off.

The worst part, I thought, was that they didn't really do much with the premise. This is an Italian movie set during the end of World War II, and they barely even used that setup. It could have been set in the United States during the Civil War or Prohibition, and there probably wouldn't need to be many changes.

The characters were likeable, though, and it hits all the notes that you expect a heist comedy to hit.

An Enjoyable War Based Thriller

[tkdlifemagazine · 6/10 · 31 October 2022]

This is, in many ways, Renato De Maria's Italian version of Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. It is a historically based piece of film fiction where the premise involves the use of Mussolini and the Italian Fascists as the basis for the story. A group of men discover a plan by Mussolini to flee Italy with his his country's riches as the war is coming to a close. The plot is to steal the gold and escape pic h and free men. The movie is well scripted, shot, and directed. The cinematography and costumes are very good. The acting is good. Matilda de Angelis, the star of HBO's The Undoing, is very good in this. The film is good and I love that so many war films focus on Germany and Hitler, but this one uses Mussolini and the Italians as a focal point. While it is good, it is not as compelling, well filmed, or well scripted as a Tarantino film. That is okay. Many films do not.

Way too tryhard

[piccettino1990 · 5/10 · 19 November 2022]

The main issue of this movie is that it tries way too hard to be cool, and never feels spontaneous.

I mean, what's the point of the female lead singing covers of songs released decades after the events in the movie? Super distracting and doesn't fit at all. Cringe all over.

General lack of self awareness plagues the whole film, and in its search for coolness often takes itself too seriously.

I struggle at figuring out who the intended audience was. Older generations would find it too "modern", the younger ones would only be reminiscing the movies which clearly inspired this one, doing similar things but better. I can only recommend it if you are die hard fans of the genre.

Quality and realistic atmosphere, decent heist movie thanks to Maccio!

[Saman91IT · 21 December 2022]

The quality of the cinematics is good and the historical details too. The faces all match the characters and the acting is good - all but for Castellitto Jr who is kind of unwatchable so bad he is this spoiled brat!

The best character who made the movie interesting is Maccio's.

The best acting is that of the fascist general, who is a new face for me in Italian cinema, but very interesting.

The song arrangements were also good and, let's say, 'innovative classics'!

A bit predictable development and ending, but still better than the usual action hollywood movies of the past 15 years.

I feel that there are excess of Nazi based movies in the history of cinema and too few Fascist based movies because of one big reason: with the Nazis, hollywood can show Americans fighting evil, but with Fascist they would have to acknowledge the big role of Socialist freedom fighters! Usual obscurantist hypocrisy.

As Bad As It Gets

[albertval-69560 · 3/10 · 15 November 2022]

There are good and bad Italian movies about heists. This one belongs to the latter.

The story has the potential of creating a suspense-filled action movie. But it squanders the chance. And what you get is a lackluster, forgettable film.

Pacing is glacial, the actors are the least convincing, acting is wooden, direction is amateurish. The viewer cannot identify with the actors or with the audacity of their mission of robbing Musollini's treasure hoard before it's shipped to Switzerland. There is an effort to be funny but the attempt fails dismally.

I hate to say it but it's a complete waste of time.

Sort of Ocean's 11 Meets Inglorious Bastards with a Touch of The Dirty Dozen

[classicalsteve · 7/10 · 12 November 2022]

This is a fun movie if you don't take it too seriously. Without question, it borrows from all kinds of other movies. The characters are more like caricatures than rounded characters. The main plot involves a heist of gold and other treasures hoarded by the Mussolini regime to fund his war campaign when they were still allies of the German Nazis. The story takes place during the last days of the Second World War, just prior to Mussolini's dethronement.

The movie features elements you may recognize: Among the good guys: the heist organizer, the sharp-shooter, the alluring young lady, the acrobat, the code-breaker, the race-car driver, and the anarchist.

Among the baddies: the sadistic fascist officer, his wife, a washed-up Hollywood-type actress, and his henchman.

The settings: an officer's palace, a hideout, a militaristic compound with its prisoners and hoard of treasure.

Pietro Lamberti is the amoral entrepreneur who has been trying to sell arms to different militaristic factions with albeit mixed results. His code breaker, Amedeo, intercepts a transmission that Mussolini's hidden treasure might be lifted and taken to Switzerland by one of his high-ranking officers. They know they're going to lose the war, so why not take the money and run? Pietro decides, instead of trading in arms, maybe they can steal the gold.

In true Ocean's 11 style, we hear Pietro's voice-over as he describes the different people he wants to recruit for the heist. Each has a brief scene which tells us who they are, more or less. Sound familiar? There's even a scene which is a throw-back to Sergio Leone's "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly".

True to these kinds of movies, Federal Secretary Borsalino, a sadistic high-ranking officer in Mussolini's regime, runs the Dead Zone. The Dead Zone is a military complex where not only the gold is stashed but where prisoners, both political and military, are incarcerated, some awaiting execution. Borsalino is having an extra-marital affair with a young singer, who also happens to be the lover of Pietro! He is planning to take the gold and the girl no less for himself.

His estranged wife, Nora Cavalieri, is a throw-back to Old Hollywood, but now her career is on the skids because she's older and can no longer play young female characters. She also knows about the gold and the younger woman.

The result is an entertaining and enjoyable fantasy flick where all the different nutty characters interplay. A few twists and turns make the story a bit unpredictable. And as I said at the beginning, if audiences don't take it too seriously, it's 90 minutes of entertaining cinema. Is it based on a true story, as implied? Probably not.

Lets some questions

[Luigi Di Pilla · 5/10 · 4 December 2022]

Don't take this so seriously and don't expect too much. The actors delivered a very good performance. The substance of the story lacks and some cheesy holes let's questions open.

The spoken language is cool and the music remembers at times the war movies of the sixties. I don't think this movie is based on true events. The way they attacked the head quarter was really too easy to get in.

The costumes and sceneries were well created.

Nice landscapes at the end and who knows if there wil ever be a sequel.

Finally I spent anyway an entertaining time cause I have for the moment really not more options to see on Netflix.

5/10.

"Robbing Mussolini" - Great movie !!

[OzMovieWatcher · 7/10 · 28 October 2022]

English title - "Robbing Mussolini"

I was impressed by this movie.

Making a movie in the style of Tarantino, set in Italy with Italian actors speaking French and watching it with English subtitles has to be a first.

Set in WW2 Italy, a collection of misfits meet to undertake an almost impossible heist, .... to steal Mussolini's wealth.

All the elements of a good WW2 movie.... shoot-outs, deception, resistance fighters, car/vehicle chases, pine forests and mountain scenery, patriotism of good overcoming evil..

As I watched the movie, I kept seeing many film styles that would make me think that the director and screen writer was influenced by Tarantino.

It is both a comedy, drama, action and all rolled into great scenery and sets, unique music , credible acting and with authentic weapons, costumes (uniforms) and aged motor vehicles.

Well worth the watch. A movie buffs delight.

I give it 7 stars !

Just too goofy to take seriously

[celtic451 · 4/10 · 8 May 2023]

It was really hard to get into this movie. It was just a little too goofy - and it's not a comedy. Right from the beginning I knew it was going to be a little off. It's set during WWII and the lounge singer is singing a Rolling Stones song! What the heck? The characters lean towards the one-dimensional side. The acting is sub-par and is also a little goofy. And the plot just isn't believable. These handful of goofballs plot to steal millions worth of gold from a heavily guarded fortress. Their "brilliant" plan is to set off some powder puff explosions which they hope all the guards will instantly run into the shelter without accessing what is actually going on. Just too nutty to get into.

Interesting idea and it's mostly well done.

[neil-douglas2010 · 7/10 · 23 April 2023]

Stealing from Il Duce at the end of the Second World War is an interesting premise. In this film set in Milan in 1945, a gang of Italians who hate the fascist regime plan to take back (or steal if you wish) the loot that Mussolini has stolen from Italians. How do they get it, they need a plan to get into the warehouse that hides the treasure. So starts a lot of double dealings and treachery.

A decent cast helps in this implausible story and it's also filmed very well, with a great Italian soundtrack too. Although set at a serious time in modern history this film doesn't take itself too seriously and has it's comedic moments. Though not perfect it has a lot going for it, worth a watch if you love Italy.

War not gore

[kanankoipi-56197 · 8/10 · 27 October 2022]

A scoundrel story following good neo-noir fashion with leading ladies Isabella Ferrari in black as the falling regime, and Matilda de Angelis in red as the new era, symbolizing the transition of power in 1945 Italy.

The Italian ragtag protagonists, as it were, promote themselves from petty black market affairs to try to get rich quick by grabbing no less than a truckload of Mussolini's gold. Go big or go home, as they say.

The evil Nazis and Fascists in their fancy uniforms are stereotypically mostly represented in a rather unpleasant light lacking only horns, so not much guesswork is required in deciding which party to root for.

Not much in the way of blood and gore, just a few gunfights and one car chase, but a fair story to while away an hour and a half. The opening and closing credits are played together with anachronistic "Paint it Black" (Tutto Nero in Italian, translates as Everything Black) which kind of makes sense in the end remembering the Fascists' black shirts.

In the way of gore, there are more plentiful war films than this with a Netflix TV-MA rating. Anyways, a modern dissolution of Italy's fascist past not sinking to the level of preaching.

Comic Book dubbed in English

[pensman · 6/10 · 4 February 2024]

As soon as you hear one of the female protagonists singing Paint it Black, you know or should know your leg is being pulled. Gag piles on gag as the story moves from silly to ridiculous. The acting is almost as bad as the dubbing. There have been countless films, maybe not countless, that poke fun at the tropes of war from courage to heroic. I think of Kelly's Heroes for example. Not so much as witty as it is laughable. Need to toss away ninety minutes with little to recall or clog up your grey matter, you have found it here. I didn't recognize any of the actors, and should I see them again, I doubt I would be able to recall any of them.

Much ado about nothing

[themouthoftruth · 21 November 2022]

This film tries to be a free run quoting old films like Mario Monicelli's "Soliti ignoti" and other films that were successful comedies of the glorious past of Italian cinema. It also feels free to use music of more recent times, willing to be walk back and forth of time. All this could be good, but at the end it doesn't work. Why? Because the characters are not well designed and the actors are lost in their grotesque representation. An expensive film with a lot of noise and action that does not excite and leads nowhere. You could take just as fun action, but it fails to do so and the narrative gets lost in the attempt to amaze the viewer. I wish Netflix could focus on more meaningful films!

Stylish but lifeless

[jamesjustice-92 · 6/10 · 23 December 2022]

Sometimes a movie leaves you with some thoughts to think about, the other times it leaves you with nothing, as if you've never watched a movie at all. Rapiniamo il Duce is sadly closer to the latter but not without its buts too.

Ever since I started learning Italian, their movies were mostly misses for me; it's an expressive language and for the most part I just couldn't grab what the characters are saying - and I was just reading the subtitles! - but this one was different. Maybe because it was produced for Netflix but I just didn't feel like it was really made for Italians and that's on the negative side actually. The whole movie seems like an American remake but with an all-Italian cast and that dissonance is palpable starting the first minutes.

On the positive side though Rapiniamo il Duce is a stylish, fast-paced heist drama with fantastic inclusions of animated segments and 1940s appropriate soundtrack but it lacks consistency and the setting (last days of WWII) is only there to bring a feeling of urgency into narrative, not to be a leading vehicle for it. Main characters are no names that we know little to nothing about and therefore are not capable to empathize with anyone - the story plays out so fast it hasn't got time to draw backstories longer than a sentence or a five second clip and that rush is all over the place. The jokes would've been a well-fitting addition and probably the life saver for the movie but they don't exist here as well.

All in all this is a well-crafted movie that looks marvelous on paper, as a comic book adaptation but as a standalone feature it is as lifeless as its main characters.

Enjoyable story

[greekdx · 7/10 · 24 August 2023]

At least it is a watchable and intesting historical fake story ! This compares to the previously watched hard feelings

Supposedly having some fun it is not a funny movie excluding the Italian temperament that is relatively crazy and funny . Some gn is also sown in the start titles whre the letters are moving reminding some old Italian spaghetti movies of the past or even some Tarantino movies

Still the movie is an action thiller with some interesting twists. In short the story is clarly noticed in the title . A rather amateur 'pro' person is acting for the resistance tries to unite some friends of the past together with the his girlfriend who secretary of a violent high class person of Mussolini aiming to steal gold and many other things Duce collected from Italian citizens in order to buy artillery to the army. Duce knowing his end premised to collect all his treasure and leave to Switzerland. Will the group of extremists win their bet?

It's a truly war movie with interesting story and quite simpe plot with minimal twists hat are increased towards the end of the movie. Some background humor and minimal funny scenes and fast paced . Tomasso is also very good as Pietro (the pro person and the main actor) Also to mention the old woman Isabella Fogliaza with a small role who shines as the wife of the general noted above

6/1- enjoyable movie.