The title "002 Operazione Luna" is doubly misleading: firstly because it suggests some kind of spy spoof, which this is absolutely not, and secondly because Franco and Ciccio never reach the moon. They appear in two roles each: as Russian cosmonauts whose capsule loses all contact with Earth and is believed to be lost, and as small time Italian crooks who, because of their incredible likeness to the cosmonauts, are kidnapped by the Soviets and sent on a second space mission to cover up the failure of the first. Then, in the last 20 minutes, the film turns into a mistaken-identity bedroom farce. On the whole, this is a pretty weak comedy; most of the Franco-Ciccio routines are overextended, and only the surreal image of them floating into space may stick in your memory. I will give Franco credit, though, for proving, in his smaller Russian role, that he CAN play a character without mugging if he wants to. ** out of 4.
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gridoon202425 February 2014
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BandSAboutMovies17 June 2023The only bad thing about being a Lucio Fulci fan is that you eventually start to run out of first watches of his movies. Once you've even entered into the post-80s high and learned to love movies like Voices from Beyond, Sodoma's Ghost, Touch of Death, The Sweet House of Horror and Demonia (and more) the only way out is backward. That's when you start to watch the movies that Fulci created before he was only known for gore, quality films like Perversion Story, Don't Torture A Duckling and A Lizard in a Woman's Skin are waiting for you.
Before that, Fulci went to medical school and decided, upon graduation, that there was more money in movies than in treating patients. After apprenticing at Centro Sperimentale, he directed documentaries and worked as an assistant director and screenwriter in the Italian comedy genre throughout the 50s. He apprenticed under famous Italian comedy director Steno and eventually became known for a series of movies starring Franco Franchi and Ciccio Ingrassia.
A sequel to Oh! Those Most Secret Agents!, this follows almost the same plot as that movie. Franco and Ciccio get confused for cosmonauts Colonel Paradowsky and Major Borovin, which makes sense as the comedy team plays both roles. The Italians are used to take the place of the two missing Russians who have gone missing in the cold void of space, so they land the rocket so the space race can be lost by America. Then the Russians come back and hijinks ensue.
Mónica Randal from The Witches Mountain, Linda Sini (who would also be in Fulci's Massacre Time and Don't Torture A Duckling), Maria Silva (Tombs of the Blind Dead), Francesca Romana Coluzzi (Marisa Mell's body double in Danger: Diabolik! As well as Giovannona Long-Thigh and Fulci's Dracula In the Provinces; she's also Red Sonja's mother) liven things up.
Fulci said that this movie and The Two Parachutists were both filmed in just seven weeks.
While this has a 002 in the title, it is not a Eurospy movie. It's also one of only two science fiction movies Fulci would make, along with Warriors of the Year 2072.