''Avenging Angelo'' is a 2002 American

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy wa ...

action romantic comedy crime film directed by Martyn Burke and starring Sylvester Stallone, Madeleine Stowe, and

Anthony Quinn Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (April 21, 1915 – June 3, 2001), known professionally as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican-American actor. He was known for his portrayal of earthy, passionate characters "marked by a brutal and elemental v ...

. The film received mostly negative reviews.

Plot

Years ago, a mob boss named Lucio Malatesta (George Touliatos) pinned the murder of rival Sammy Carboni (Gino Marrocco) on another rival named Angelo Allieghieri (

), which led to Sammy's son Gianni vowing revenge. Frankie Delano ( Sylvester Stallone) has spent his life safeguarding Angelo as well as Angelo's daughter, Jennifer Barrett ( Madeleine Stowe), whose unsavory husband Kip Barrett (

Harry Van Gorkum Harry Van Gorkum is a British actor living in the United States. Born in London, he studied at Lancaster University , mottoeng = Truth lies open to all , established = , endowment = £13.9 million , budget = £317.9 million , t ...

) has had their young son Rawley (Ezra Perlman) placed in a boarding school against Jennifer's wishes. Jennifer was raised by her adoptive parents Whitney Towers (John Gilbert) and Peggy Towers (Dawn Greenhalgh) and is not aware that Angelo is her father. After Angelo is killed in a restaurant by a hit man named Bruno (

Billy Gardell William Gardell Jr. (born August 20, 1969) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. Gardell played Chicago police officer Mike Biggs on '' Mike & Molly.'' He also had a recurring role as Billy Colivida on '' Yes, Dear'' and appeared in a dozen ...

), Frankie introduces himself, tells Jennifer who he is and what he has been doing. A neurotic mess, Jennifer can barely handle the news that Kip is a philanderer, let alone the revelation that she is a gangster's daughter. But a DVD prepared by Angelo in the case of just such an event convinces Jennifer that it's the truth. Jennifer certainly doesn't want a full-time bodyguard, even Frankie. She ditches Kip and then falls for Italian romance novelist Marcello (

Raoul Bova Raoul Bova (born 14 August 1971) is an Italian actor. Bova's European film breakthrough was in the 1993 film ''Piccolo grande amore'', and he's played romantic male leads the following years. His American film credits include ''Under the Tusca ...

), who lectures at her book club. Frankie has suspicions about Marcello, but his job is to stay on the sidelines. Frankie rescues Jennifer from a string of attacks. With many of Angelo's enemies, including Lucio Malatesta, terminated, Frankie allows her to visit Italy with Marcello. But it turns out that Marcello is actually Gianni Carboni, who had Angelo killed. And now Gianni plans to kill Jennifer. It is up to Frankie to protect her one more time.

Cast

* Sylvester Stallone as Frankie Delano * Madeleine Stowe as Jennifer Allieghieri Barrett *

as Angelo Allieghieri *

as Marcello/Gianni Carboni *

as Kip Barrett *

as Bruno * George Touliatos as Lucio Malatesta

Production

Filming

The film was shot in Hamilton,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada and

Castellammare del Golfo Castellammare del Golfo (; scn, Casteddammari; la, Emporium Segestanorum or ) is a town and municipality in the Trapani Province of Sicily. The name can be translated as "Sea Fortress on the Gulf", stemming from the medieval fortress in the h ...

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Reception

Critical response

The film was met with mostly negative reviews by most critics. Scott Weinberg for eFILMCRITICS.com wrote that "Sly - despite his seemingly unquenchable desire to prove me otherwise - deserves better than this".

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

gives it a 13% approval rating based on 8 reviews, with an average score of 4.41/10.

References

External links

* * {{Martyn Burke 2001 films 2000s English-language films Films shot in Hamilton, Ontario Mafia comedy films Films scored by Bill Conti Films directed by Martyn Burke 2000s crime comedy films Franchise Pictures films Films produced by Elie Samaha 2001 comedy films 2002 comedy films 2002 films 2000s American films