Superargo and the Faceless Giants (1968)] (orig. L’invincibile Superman) – Director: Paolo Bianchini – 3/10 (very mediocre/bad)
Though Bianchini’s direction is more or less reliable as expected, the outing lacks the psychotronic quality of his antecedent Devilman Story and is evidently at a loss for an element of surprise which could interject some oomph into the flaccid composition. The entire product is molded in the way it is supposed to, yet it fails to leave a lasting impression on account of the utter superficiality and fatuousness of its script. At the very least, it does not replicate the mistakes perpetrated in Grieco’s take on Argoman in that it puts emphasis on action instead of lingering over pointless dialogues, so it may be reckoned marginally superior. Nevertheless, the pacing, albeit rather firm and steady, is still too slow to sustain the momentum of its action-oriented content; film’s routine mode of story development repeatedly employing the same antics and shticks feels repetitive and fails to rectify the flabby narrative, the jocular nature of which simply turns out trite and further underlines the want of fresh ideas. There are some atmospheric caverns shown towards the end, but they are hardly put to good use with the whole enchilada climaxing in another fairly unremarkable donnybrook, following which one merely heaves a sigh of relief at the realization the film is finally over.
