Italy finally has its very own superhero, and his capacity for mixing social critique with heroic feats is boundless. Gabriele Mainetti’s thoroughly enjoyable, surprisingly plangent and gritty film features a criminal loser who stumbles upon his powers Toxic Avenger-style (by accidentally falling into a barrel of radioactive waste) and learns to care about humanity thanks to a traumatized woman who’s convinced he’s the Japanese manga character Steel Jeeg. Mainetti may be a novice helmer, but there’s no trace of the beginner here, with style and execution earning top marks along with modest yet well-handled visual effects. Believable in nearly all aspects except for its hero’s new powers, They Call Me Jeeg fits into a new, distinctive brand of European superhero movie, creatively playing with the rehashed formulas that persist in American productions, using familiar ingredients to comment on Italian social and political ills.