User reviews

Frankie Delano (Sylvester Stalone) is the bodyguard of the mobster Angelo Allieguiere (Anthony Quinn, in his last work). Angelo has a daughter, Jennifer (Madeleine Stowe), who does not know her true identity. Frankie was responsible also for her protection since she was born, and is secretly in love with her. When Angelo is killed by another gangster, Frankie gets close to Jennifer, since she would be in danger. Many funny situations will happen when the killers try to murder Jennifer. This movie, although predictable and with some ridiculous dialogs, entertains and works reasonably well on DVD. It is an average and forgettable comedy, but good for some laughs and killing time. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Missão Perigosa" ("Dangerous Mission")

Avenging Angelo was dedicated to Anthony Quinn, whose character was killed off in a vendetta for the murder a rival. His daughter, Jennifer was never told he was her father. Her "father and mother" were to raise Jennifer as their own child for her protection. Frankie was her body guard much of her life. In the process he fell in love with her. There was definite chemistry between Jennifer and Frankie. The movie is fairly predictable. One of the silliest moments was when Jennifer decided to "wax" the man who was trying to have her killed. Being at death's door, Jennifer succeeded when she "married him to death". The movie had romance and laughter, and it was a lot of fun if you could overlook the "whacking" of several people who were out to get Jennifer.

If nothing else, the film justifies its existence for the restaurant scene at the beginning, wherein Quinn utters the above line. Short as it may be, THAT scene was cinematic magic, especially if you study Quinn's face as he delivers the words. The briefest of pauses makes you wonder if the reality of that line had momentarily struck him, fatally ill as he was with throat cancer during shooting. He died before the film's release bringing to an end one of Hollywood's most illustrious screen careers - one that spanned six decades. Restricted as the role of Angelo was, it was ENOUGH to say "goodbye" with, and with such dignity too. Quinn "conveyed" more in his ten minutes on screen here than others have amassed in a lifetime. He would have been delighted to be working, up to his last breath, literally. Stallone even, if you really look closely, appears to extend a real reverence to his co-star in those opening minutes.

I think to have any hope of either understanding or even "liking" this film, you would need to be over 40 with a depth and awareness not everyone has. It is NOT a "surface" film. If that is all you can see, you're wasting your time. There is fun, chemistry, humor- subtle and less so....and a decent storyline. Whether you view it as parodying THE GODFATHER (which at times it appears to be doing) or telling a less than straightforward tale of revenge...mafioso style, this film has genuine moments of endearing drama. Many reviewers appear to feel short-changed expecting as they were, THE VALACHI PAPERS 2 or THE CURSE OF DON CORLEONE....nor was this wallowing in the putrid wake of OSCAR, Stallone's last "stab" as it were, at portraying the unfunny eccentricities of "la cosa nostra."

I won't bother rehashing the plotline....enough here have done that. I would simply say that it is a great shame it went straight to video - Quinn deserved way more respect than that, and SO did this film. I agree with the reviewer who offered a 6.6 as being reasonable. Like I said though, you have to be able to look past the plot holes, the uneven direction and the oddball characterizations. Stallone and Stowe handed in some good work here!

Believe me, nobody wants to see Sly reclaim his former glory more than me, but "Avenging Angelo" ain't the way he's gonna do it. I cringed when I saw it on the shelf in the video store - Sly's second straight to video dud - but I rented this one too. "Eye See You" wasn't all that bad...he's had worse go to theaters...but "AA" is totally D.O.A. Stallone is good, but Stowe is over the top and annoying - she's trying too hard to make everything "zany" and "madcap". And the "wacky banter" - Sly tries to blame a farting corpse on "bloated squirrels stuck in the walls"(???!) - is just horrible.

Many scenes are stupidly overdone - the shoe scene, the shooting the ceiling scene, the adultery scene, all those pointless romance fantasies - they're trying to be funny but that's all they are...trying. In fact, the whole movie is. I watched half of it on fast forward, stopping occasionally to see if it improved. It didn't. Even the climactic fight is lame. Sly's worst.

Avenging Angelo is a direct to video Stallone flick before he made his comeback with Rocky Balboa. I can't blame Sly for trying something different after a decade of mostly bad or unremarkable film work. This is a romantic comedy action mob movie that seems to cater to women. I could see this being well received on the Lifetime network or something. However, if you are a normal film fan or a fan of Stallone's action movies I will recommend to stay as far away from this as possible. It does have a good cast with Stallone, Madeleine Stowe and Anthony Quinn in his last performance. However, this film falls flat with me as nothing really comes together in this really corny and substanceless movie. Sly's performance is actually not bad, but the film as a whole is painful to watch. The mafia stuff is as cliche and unauthentic as it gets, there is very little action and the rom com elements are as cheesy as it gets with some of the lamest, most cringeworthy attempts at humor on celluloid. The romantic elements are as equally clumsy and forced into a film that would be better suited being played in a more subtle manner. If you are a soccer mom or something, this might be for you. But for a man pushing 50, I hated this and found this to be a grating and forgettable watch.

I sure hope this is director Marty Burke's last feature, because unless he had a gun to his head and was forced to follow an erratic script, he's not doing a very good job.

The movie is a mishmash of incoherent, illogical, unfounded scenes that brings it no flow and no credibility whatsoever (not even as a comedy). Stallone is actually pretty good and Stowe tries although she stumbles severely.

I can see some good intentions of making this a romantic comedy, but it just fails utterly. The comedy isn't very funny and the romance isn't really coming across.

Poor Sylvester who just winds up with directors who make crap of his every non-action-movie-attempt. Unfortunately Sly, you and the soundtrack are the best things about this movie!

Rest in peace Anthony!

This was Tony Quinn's last film. He was dying of cancer of the throat when the film was being made and it shows in his weakness in the film. Appropriately, he gets offed and indeed, he was dying and died before the film was released. A grand old man who gave us lots of moments in hundreds of films from bad guys to good guys, always in the character realm. This film with Maddy Stowe and Sly Stallone is a fun film that wanders between being a kind of Prizzi's Honor in the chick-flick mode to a rather slap-stick comedy. However, what the reviewers herein who are panning Stallone with their "he's over the hill" comments seem to miss is that old Sly can do more than Arnie Swartzenegger clenched teeth grimacing action films with usually lousy story lines. True, this film at times can't seem to make up its mind whether to be a black comedy or pratt-fall filled lampoon of the traditional gangster/mafioso genre. No matter. It's fun because Stowe and Stallone are a delight to watch. Although, it does make one sad to know this was old Tony's last film, we should appreciate he worked right up to the last gasp, as it were. Ciao, Tony and thanks for all the good times. You'll be missed.

I am a huge Stallone fan, but sadly this is one of Stallone's worst films, if not the absolute worst. Mainly because of the female lead, who is insufferable as a character. Air-headed, entitled and shrill, her developmental arc is non-existent. None of the characters are interesting and all fall on tired clichés. The dialogue is atrocious, everything is so poorly written and random inconsequential twists are added in - 'Hi dear, your father is playing squash. No, actually he's gay' - exaggerated but the jist of it. There's even a full scene presumably meant to be funny about an assassin with flatulence. Throwing in the typical unconvincing (to Brits) posh British accent, it's overwhelmingly poor.

Stallone does nothing wrong, other than make the decision to join this film. Not even sure what the genre is, it's not comedy, drama, romance or action. No wonder it went direct to DVD. Plus, after acting that isn't too cringe-inducing as a whole, in the climax it is atrocious, at least it's over in the space of seconds. An hour and a half building to that. Terrible.

I bought this movie for two reasons, first, I wanted to get something my wife and I could watch together and Wal-Mart was selling it for $5.50, and secondly, it was filmed partly in the city where I work, and I saw Stallone standing between two sound trucks, looking just like Sylvester Stallone as I was leaving my office one night. I had always thought I should have a look at the movie.

I expected a grim-mouthed actioner, but having seen some of Stallone's other work I should have known better. The movie is played with a lot of good humour, and fine interplay between Stallone and Stowe. There were a couple of places where I actually laughed out loud, and it's hard to make me laugh.

If you want a movie you can watch on a quiet night with your teen-aged kids and your wife, this'll do fine.

This film is a female comedy; I thought it would be a mobster story. My wife enjoyed this film, I thought it was more hit or miss. I believe this film was direct too video. I would not be surprised if this film is on Show case Diva, I would not recommend this movie. But I would give it a 5 out of 10.

All the comments seem really critical of this film calling it the worst Stallone film ever... You obviously haven't seen many of his films. Treat the film as the light hearted comedy/ romance it was obviously meant to be and stop trying to find the Stallone box office smash you expect every time.

The story could be improved slightly, but as a film dedicated to the life of Anthony Quinn I found it quite moving. Try to remember, not everyone always wants to see long drawn out complicated 3 hour films that leave you wondering what just happened. It is nice just to kick back and watch something easy going. I think to cast Stallone as Frankie in this film was a stroke of genius. Nothing like the films he has done of late which all have him as some burn't out over the hill character. Madeline is always a pleasure to watch if for nothing more than her ability to light up the screen. I gave the film 10 out of 10 for being good within it's own boundaries.

This is a light romp and Anthony Quinn was great in it too. Stallone and his costar are funny too. Keep in mind it's a light comedy and a gangster bodyguard film and you will be all set.

In "Avenging Angelo" Stallone plays bodyguard to a wealthy woman (Stowe) who unknowingly becomes a mob target. A clumsy and awkward romantic comedy, this film's conclusion is foregone and the journey toward it hard to get into and hard to swallow. Nonetheless, it's sufficiently busy with simple minded fun to make it an enjoyable no brainer for fans of the players or needy sofa spuds. (C+)

Disclaimer: I am not a Stallone fan, . but I readily admit that Sylvester Stallone has made both good and bad films. This is definitely one of the former.

Stallone rarely gets any respect for his acting in the mainstream press, which is accurate rather than biased: if he were an unknown in this role, and had given an identical performance, the press would laud him for his ability to handle subtle bits of comedy interspersed with action and gun-play. But he's Stallone- with all the baggage that this carries, both good and bad- so whilst he should know better, his work in the light hearted flicks is quite often overlooked.

If I were assisting Mr. Stallone's career, I would have suggested putting this out in film, and keeping 'Get Carter' for the nearest black hole. The director of this film works well but should be shot on sight for one scene, where the Merc is accelerating from the garage and the cars behind are happily catching up.

Madeline Stowe has rarely been annoying to me, and in this film, one has to admire her (again) her for her amazing physical shape: she's beautiful, with a figure that a lot of current 20-year-olds round here could never aspire to! She deftly handles both the comic and the pathos of the script, in much the same way as Stakeout 1.

Nice to know that Quinn and Stowe did it again for the last time with a simple story about adultery and revenge rather than a simple story about adultery and revenge.

Rent it with an open mind. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Quinn R.I.P.

Why bother making a Sylvester Stallone if he's not going to be violent or cool for one scene? He's gotten softer than the entire A-Team combined. It sucks to see him trying to achieve his goals just by merely threatening people like a little school girl. You better give me the information I need or I'll obviously keep shooting around you or hold you in some grip, I'll do anything unless it makes you bleed. The story is shockingly uninteresting because I've seen it hundreds of times before. Maybe the mafia just isn't what it used to be. Stallone's character is not 60 years old which would be logical, the face-lifts and the bull hormones are getting painful to watch. You really start to wonder why this movie was ever made in the first place. With no cinema release, it has to get back the budget from DVD rentals, and why would you rent this when you can just get "Rambo III" and actually see the same guy doing stuff that's lots more entertaining? Despite pathetic,it was still a good choice to go back to his two franchises after this because honestly, this is as relevant as the newest Seagal.

Wow. If Sylvester Stallone has made a worse movie than this I've never seen it and, hopefully, never will. Painfully unfunny mob comedy stars Stallone as a bodyguard trying to protect the daughter of his former boss. Madeline Stowe is horribly, fatally miscast. She's not only ten years too old for her part but she plays her character so broadly, particularly in early scenes, that she comes across as little more than a cartoon. Stallone is relaxed and affable, so much so that it's difficult to believe him as a mobster. Absolutely nothing in this movie works--the comedy is flat, the action sequences poorly staged and unexciting, the romance doomed since Stallone and Stowe have no chemistry.

When I looked at other people opinion about this movie I thought that I'm about to look some stupid and dull action movie.Again I was surprised."Avenging Angelo" is a action comedy and every other genre wouldn't fit to this one.This movie is special because of few things.First, this is a last movie of legendary actor Anthony Quinn.Second,I liked Stallone's part in this movie.Lots of people didn't like his comedy "Oscar" but I think that was a great and funny movie."Avenging Angelo" is a bit similar to "Oscar" because Sly is connected to mafia in both films.This movie has some funny scenes but problem is always ending.Ending is the most important part in this kind of movie and lots of them aren't too good.This one is predictable like the others and if you can close your eyes on that part,you will see that this movie isn't that bad.It's OK and that's it.Sly is good in this one but his role in "Oscar" was much better too me.Madeleine Stowe is good and I like her and I think with death of Mr.Quinn world of movies lost another great actor.This movie is also for him."Avenging Angelo" has it's good and bad sides but I think that first people should take a look and then create their opinion.Also I have to say that a man in charge for music in this movie is another legend - Jon Bon Jovi.

In my book a 1 star is for the worst of the worst - like "The Room". This isn't quite that bad. But it's pretty bad.

The thing is, it could have been good. If it had made up its mind to either be a comedy or a drama. But trying to be both it fails miserably. There's no laugh...at all. Any attempt at comedy ranges from flat to annoying. If that isn't bad enough, they attempt to recycle the dumb jokes that didn't work the first time. There's an on going schtick about Frankie's cologne, Brut. Like anyone besides Joe Namath ever really wore that stuff. The joke never works. Not the first time. Not the third time.

Frankie has to get rid of a body. We don't know if the body is dead or just unconscious. Until the body farts...three separate times. "Frankie, did you say something?" Yeah, hilarious.

The saddest part of all this is that the director, Martyn Burke, wrote Top Secret, one of the funniest movies of all time. How he could miss so badly with this movie I'll never understand.

Now, if this had been written as a drama, with action scenes, a little love story, not too over the top, it might have worked. It could have been good. As long as Madeleine Stowe's character was maybe only slightly annoying instead of completely over the top. Why Frankie hasn't shot her yet I have no idea.

The writing is atrocious. Nothing makes any sense. Angelo thinks something might happen to him, but Frankie leaves him unprotected in the restaurant to go deal with a parking ticket. Jennifer lives in this enormous mansion that has no security system whatsoever. Bad guys and ex-husbands come and go at all hours of the night. She's "terrified" but goes out at night to the guest house to have a conversation about nothing.

It's not like Stallone and Stowe have no chemistry together, but it isn't allowed to develop because her character is so annoying. I'm 48 minutes into it hoping against hope that it will get better.

Considering that this film went straight to DVD and stars Sylvester Stallone, the fact that I liked it is pretty surprising. But it's a pleasant time-passer....and would make an excellent date night flick. For those wanting action, it has enough of that and for romance lovers, there's plenty of that as well.

This film is the last movie for Anthony Quinn and he is featured in the first 10 or so minutes of the movie. It seems he's an aging mob boss and knows he doesn't have much more time to live, so he's getting his life in order....and leaving a recording for his daughter, Jennifer (Madeleine Stowe)...a woman who has no idea who her biological father is. As far as she's concerned, the man who played her dad all her life is her real father....though she doesn't know that the mob boss placed her with this family in order to protect her from rival bosses bent on revenge. After he's killed, the boss' bodyguard, Frankie (Sylvester Stallone) reveals the truth about her past....and vows to continue watching over her. By 'continue', this means he's been covertly watching over Jennifer for years...and now he's intent on keeping her save from the men who killed her father.

While none of this sounds especially romantic, it actually is quite so. The chemistry between Stowe and Stallone is quite nice and the story has a lot to like...mostly the leisurely performance by Stallone. As for Stowe, she was generally good in the film but her character was a bit too goofy at times and seemed to lack some clear direction (why have the marriage to the mob boss portion in the film??). But overall, well made and handled with some deftness and subtlety. Worth seeing....and available for free on several Roku channels currently.

Nothing less than pathetic, the worst excuse for a movie "Avenging Angelo" has Sylvester Stallone playing Frankie, the bodyguard of a mobster (Anthony Quinn in his final role) who, after the old man's murder needs to protect his daughter (Madeleine Stowe) from eventual enemies. Detail: she doesn't know that her father was a criminal. If this was a drama or a thriller something decent would come out of this. So, this is a comedy and the way the story is developed is just a set of dumb moments after another, schmucks dealing with schmucks and the neurotic woman going nuts after finding the truth about her family.

Almost everything is weak here. Almost. There's four or five moments that are a little funny, takes some good laughs out of us but that's it, no more. For the most part of this, I was anxious for the ending regretting for not walking out of it when I had the chance. It is such a stupid movie that is beyond anything I've seen in the past few months. Silly acting, silly plot and silly humor (best thing of this is when Stallone takes out the truth from Stowe's husband about his infidelities).

Wanna see of what a bad movie is like? Watch this! If you don't feel bad at all and manage to sit through the whole thing and enjoy it, well, my bad, sorry. But then go to a doctor and do some head check to see how sane you are. 2/10

After watching this film, I didn't know what category this film would fit at. It's a romantic comedy/drama film. It's a shame that this film was shelved for almost 2 years...it features great performances by Sylvester Stallone & Madeleine Stowe. Some of Sly's latest work has been either a hit or miss..."Driven" was more of a miss, & "Get Carter" was great. It's a shame that more people don't give Sly a chance to act; this film hopefully will show this. Very entertaining indeed. Hopefully, this will be released in some way in the USA soon.

Stallone and Stowe performs here in this ridiciolous little 1½ hour movie. Its So boring and trys to be funny and romantic and deep at the same time with absolutely no succes....A complete waste of time! I thought it would be a suspense thriller but the FUNNY cartoon like music at the beginning says it all....