59. Diablo; movie review

DIABLO
Cert 15
106 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong language

Another week and another Polish movie about an underground sport led by crime lords.
Hot of the heels of mixed martial arts film Underdog comes Diablo - a picture about illegal car racing.
The themes are very similar. Once again the focus is a decent fella (this time a tad younger) who tries to use his speed and skill to earn money to send his sick sister abroad for a life-saving operation.
Michal Otlowski's film prompted my first visit to Nottingham's Savoy Cinema which took me back to those days of small independent screens with old-style seats.
Sadly, there was no interval so no opportunity for an usherette to appear with tubs of rock hard ice cream.
I digress.
Three people and I saw the last listed local screening of Diablo. I didn't ask if they were any more impressed than me but I thought it was woefully short on ambition.
Basically, the good lad (Tomasz Wlosok) tries to stay two paces ahead of those trying to defeat or even kill him.
On his side are a benefactor (Rafal Mohr) and a fellow driver (Karolina Szymczak) who offers a dab of love interest.
Meanwhile, her father (Cezary Pazura) is the race organiser who is a very sore loser and Mikolaj Roznerski is his henchman-in-chief.
Diablo is little more than a long string of movie cliches - a typical goodies-against-baddies picture with cars and violence.
Its highlight its car chase scenes but after I while they began to drag (sorry about the pun).
The truth is, I will remember Diablo only for where I watched it.

Reasons to watch: Car chase scenes
Reasons to avoid: Packed with cliches

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 4/10

Did you know? Double European drifting champion Karolina Pilarczyk and martial arts heavyweight champion Marcin “Rózal” Rózalski are among the supporting cast.

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