The Bad Guy Season 1 Review: Enthralling Rhythm That Takes The Audience Into A Dynamic And Enthralling Story
Cast: Luigi Lo Cascio, Claudia Pandolfi, Vincenzo Pirrotta, Selene Caramazza, Giulia Maenza, Antonio Catania
Director: Giancarlo Fontana and Giuseppe G. Stasi
Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4/5 (four stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
The first season of The Bad Guy ends with an open ending and we are already waiting for the second. Stasi and Fontana, at the head of the series released in December on Prime Video, take on a great deal of courage and choose to end their six episodes with one of those twists that, if they didn’t have a closure, we could never forgive them again. This is because the Italian product on the platform, not the only quality product this year as noted with the Bang Bang Baby review, has conquered with an exciting overwhelming as regards the Italian panorama and not simply as regards the size of the drama.
The Bad Guy Season 1 Review: The Story
As seen in the first impressions of The Bad Guy, it is in fact the strength of the genre on which Giuseppe Stasi and Giancarlo Fontana have worked, to make their series as enthralling and dynamic as possible. A mafia story that becomes a duel between gangsters, which becomes the expression of the taste that the authors wanted to apply to their project, seasoning the latter with references and references to the cinematographic and serial universe that they themselves love, if only for the choice of atmospheres. And, since their inception, they have wanted to transform into their own signature, so as to be able to be bearers of the same – albeit revisited – style and recognizable in the Italian entertainment district.
The Bad Guy it has everything a mob movie would need, with the addition of a bitter irony typical of our beautiful country, such as that air of truth that helps to make an operation like that of Prime Video much more spectacular, precisely thanks to this likelihood. There is no desire to emulate, there is no desire to imitate, copy or even mimic those action or crime products with which so much film and serial industry have accustomed us (observing overseas, of course).
And this, therefore, increases the sense of peculiarity of the production of the streaming window that stands out precisely because it seeks a connection with a reality that the series then has the pleasure of fictionalizing, thanks to the writing of its screenwriters and the lightning-fast staging of the direction and editing. Always cutting the shot to create sequences of doubles which are then the reverberation of the protagonist’s dual identity. Deciding to make the eye participate in this separation between the former magistrate Nino Scodellaro and the new mafia boss Balduccio Remora, both played by an extraordinary Luigi Lo Cascio.
The Bad Guy Season 1 Review and Analysis
By accentuating his own dialect and confronting himself with the game that an actor can undertake with a split role like the one Stasi and Fontana have offered him, the protagonist dominates the scene as will his “acquired family” to find his nemesis Mariano Suro, trying to stop it by no longer resorting to the instruments of justice. At least not the state one. It is revenge that moves the character of Lo Cascio and it is this thrill, this constant tension that gives color to his performance, nervous and fiery.
A single man tries to disrupt the environment that has built up around him, making his own name within the mafia and going in to defeat it, but above all to settle an outstanding score. Supported by an equally charismatic cast, which reserves excellent interpretations from the sister of the protagonist Leo Scodellaro played by Selene Caramazza to Claudia Pandolfi’s lawyer wife, The Bad Guy deserves its arrival at the end of the year the mention for the real surprise of the local seriality accompanied from hope to be able to find it again. That the second season is not only in the authors’ plans but above all in those of the platform, which could thus obtain a new story of great value and hoped-for success.
The Bad Guy ends with a double cliffhanger: on the one hand, we see who has been betraying Nino Scotellaro all these years, on the other, there is the final showdown between the protagonist and Mariano Suro. Many elements remain to be defined, and what we hope is that there will be a second season for this series that has surprised and excited us. The main merit lies in a narration that makes the story authentic, despite dealing with a theme used several times in Italian cinema and seriality. Perhaps we needed a story that spoke of the mafia through a new genre in the Italian scene, comedy, where violence mixes with bitter laughter that restores a grotesque tone to the events and its characters. Finally, the acting of the actors emerges for its truthfulness and some shine more than ever: in addition to the protagonist, played by an already experienced Luigi Lo Cascio, we cannot fail to notice the skill of Selene Caramazza in the role of marshal of the Ros who recalls in treats and deeds the Lisbeth Salander of Millenium.
However, the most characteristic and memorable aspect of The Bad Guy lies above all in the direction and the technical sector. Leaving behind every standard of Italian cinema on the subject of the mafia and the underworld, the creative direction boldly turns towards a young, cheeky and “pop” language. The colors of the photography are bright and lively, the use of superimposed writing recalls the customs of American blockbusters, and the bizarre quotations inserted in the soundtrack are simply brilliant: the pilot opens on the notes of “Bandiera Bianca” by Battiato, continues with “Se telephoning” by Mina, he moves on to the hits Goodbye and I’m In Love, and even uses the trap of Achille Lauro.
There are also some sensational cameos, such as that of Enrico Mentana, and there is no lack of references to current affairs, with the fall of the bridge over the Strait of Messina – yes, in the alternative universe of the series the bridge over the Strait has finally become a reality! – which closely recalls the story of the Morandi bridge in Genoa. In short, the director’s revolution goes hand in hand with that of the narrative tone and helps to create a decidedly original and innovative product. Our only perplexity, on the technical side, is represented by a decidedly more subdued and less artistically inspired third episode than the first two. In all likelihood, however, it is only an episode of narrative adjustment, which pays more attention to substance than to form and then restarts in the best way with the second half of the series. Waiting to see what awaits us in the last three episodes, however, for our part, we can only warmly recommend the vision of this new, fascinating series.
The Bad Guy Season 1 Review: The Last Words
The Bad Guy bears the signature of Stasi and Fontana. A now recognizable style, an enthralling rhythm that takes the audience into a dynamic and enthralling story, both for the writing of the series on Prime Video, but also for what concerns the staging and editing. It is an exceptional cast in which a charismatic protagonist stands out: a fiery Luigi Lo Cascio, who takes us into his double life first as a magistrate, then as a mafia boss.
