Leofwine_draca
This is a highly amusing Spanish/Italian co-production, an amalgamation of the James Bond movies and the Mexican wrestling films of Santo and friends which were so popular at the time. The result is Superargo, a distinctly tongue-in-cheek wrestler who wears a red costume and a black mask. However, when he accidentally kills an opponent - El Tigro - in the ring, who also happens to be a friend, Superargo decides on a career change and becomes a secret agent. The edge Superargo has on other, human spies is that he's virtually indestructible and impervious to temperature or sharp-edged weapons (as is shown in a hilarious series of experiments at the beginning of the film). On top of all this, his costume is bullet-proof as well as his car, and his only weakness is electricity which can cause him pain but no harm.Sadly his opponent in this film, Diabolicus, is no match for our masked hero, although he does have a cool name. Instead Diabolicus is simply an unmasked middle-aged guy who can turn uranium into gold and plans to flood the world's supply from his island stronghold. He sends out a squad to destroy Superargo, and they mistakenly believe that they have done so by shooting him and setting up the scene of a fake car crash. Superargo is now free to go undercover and paddles to the island retreat by dinghy.Of course, seeing as this only makes up the first half of the film, Superargo is far from successful and gets captured, and is then tortured by fire and ice. And just like in a Bond film, Diabolicus explains his entire scheme of world domination to both Superargo and the audience! It's not long before Superargo escapes, battles loads of guards, "eliminates twenty men" and escapes back to the mainland. Hanging around waiting to get kidnapped is his irritating girlfriend, Lidia, who has to be one of the most passive, uninteresting female leads in a movie. Her counterpart, Diabolicus' mistress, is much better and at least has a will of her own.After a brief car chase, Superargo is thwarted when he discovers the girl he is chasing is really a man in drag! This means he must trek back to the island for the finale, where he kills loads of people and escapes with the girl. The bad guys attempt to escape and blow the island up; they succeed with the latter but not the former, and Diabolicus is caught in the explosion. Superargo takes off his mask and retires, at least until the next movie, SUPERARGO AND THE FACELESS GIANTS.Well, where to start? First of all, SUPERARGO VERSUS DIABOLICUS is an admirably light-hearted tale which doesn't take itself too seriously like some of the Mexican/European films it copies. It's also packed with action, wrestling moves and shoot-outs, which make it very entertaining to watch. The film is colourful, with good photography and an appropriate soundtrack. The acting won't win any awards but I've seen a lot worse in Italian movies, and even the dubbing is just about passable and doesn't distract the viewer from watching the movie. There are lots of cool impossible gadgets to behold (like Geiger counters hidden inside olives) and stunts involving helicopters, flame throwers, electrocuted bars, and the hilarious ending in which Superargo holds the shutters of a launch pad closed, thus preventing Diabolicus from leaving! A supremely enjoyable slice of escapism and one of the best/funniest I've seen yet.
rodrig58
This James Bond pastiche is not all bad. Without high-caliber actors and certainly not having the big budget of the films in the original series, it manages to keep your attention to follow it to the end. That's because many films in the same category are actually hard to see until the end, only the fans of the genre, or of an actor or actress fans, have the strength and patience to see them in full. Director Nick Nostro and lead actor who plays Superargo, Giovanni Cianfriglia, they are not some celebrities. Gérard Tichy who plays Diabolikus the villain, also it's not a big name. The same with Loredana Nusciak and Mónica Randall. Yet, all of them they manage to do a pretty good job.
ejay7
I watched this movie several times growing up as a kid and I still like it. It's not the kind of flick a typical fan can watch- Don't watch it with American expectations. Superargo can be best described as a cross between; James Bond and Batman. This movie can be fun for the whole family- If you use your imagination. Lots of cool 60's music and action.
