#729 – Avanzers Italian Superheroes (2023)

Avanzers Italian Superheroes (2023)

Film review #729

Director: Cosmio Bosco

SYNOPSIS: Gaetanos, the last Alien ruler who survived the Marvel and D.C. superheroes, becomes obsessed with everything Italian. He demands the sacred gem “Made in Italy” or he will destroy the country. To this end, Italy’s greatest (worst) defender Nicola Furia is assigned to stop the evil conqueror, and it is agreed that a football will be held between Gaetanos and Furia to decide the fate of the country. Furia must assemble Italy’s greatest (worst) heroes to defend the might of the country…

THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Avanzers Italian Superheroes is a 2023 sci-fi parody film. The plot concerns the alien emperor Gaetanos, who is apparently the last galactic ruler that hasn’t been wiped out by a Marvel or D.C. superhero. He becomes obsessed with Italian culture, from the cars to the food and fashion. He comes to Earth with his army to demand the gem “Made in Italy” so that he himself can create genuine Italian products, otherwise he will destroy Italy itself. In response, the Italian government assign agent Nicola Furia, the world’s most Italian middle-aged man, who strikes a deal to play a game of football against Gaetanos to decide the fate of the country. Reading this summary, you can probably tell this is just a parody crossover of The Avengers meets Space Jam. With that in mind, there’s not much else to add to it story wise, although there’s a small crossover too with Anatar, the Italian Avatar parody from the same year. The film is structured mostly through introducing the various Italian superheroes that are parodies of other superheroes and stereotypes of Italian culture, including the Scoundrels of the Galaxy, Tonio Sterco, Roach Man, Captain Azzurro, an Italian crime boss, and a football hooligan. Moving from one character to the next at least keeps new things happening, but the overarching plot is a bit weak as it constantly focuses on new characters. While the comedy is obviously made for Italians, it’s broad enough to have enough impact to a wider audience, because everyone knows about pasta, pizza, ferraris and football to some degree.

In keeping with being a parody of The Avengers, the film clocks in at over two hours long, which is an absurdly long time for a cheap parody film such as this. There’s enough characters that it at least manages to fill out the runtime without any lulls, but the football match at the end is a bit dull, as there’s nowhere near enough competency behind the camera to make it look interesting, or choreograph anything too unique. This is a low budget affair that offers a stark contrast to the films it is parodying; sometimes it can get away with it, but other times the corner cutting is apparent: one such example is the use of stock footage of people and the use of A.I. generated imagery in some scenes which looks really bad and shows a real lack of effort. Some scenes, such as on the alien spacecrafts and the makeup isn’t as bad, and the mix of different styles just cerates a bit of a mess. The Avanzers has at least some funny moments as it lampoons Italian culture, but there’s no real consistency to any of the production, it doesn’t offer anything memorable, and it is just way too long for this sort of film.