If you’re just about numb to comic book films these days, then allow this quaint Italian picture to cleanse your palette. The debut feature-length effort from from Gabriele Mainetti seems like a fresh yet familiar take on this type of film; it also reminds once how much fun this type of story can be sans all the machismo and infighting. They Call Me Jeeg Robot is an impressive piece of work, with violence to spare, but it doesn’t glamorize heroes or villains. That’s an important thing to note because it also earns points for originality even if the story is of the passé “hero born of toxic waste” variety.

It’s rare to pair the words “origin story” with praise, but there’s no hiding that fact here. Although, this is more of comic film seen through the lens of something like Taken or Layer Cake. For once,...