After nearly 15 years since its final episode date, The Sopranos has remained widely known as one of the best TV shows of all time, exploring the depths of characters intricately and developing a story written astonishingly well. So when it was announced that a film was in production focusing on the roots of Tony Soprano, it came as a pleasant surprise to those who were a fan of the hit drama series. Although heavily marketed as a film purely focused on Tony Soprano, it begins to become evident the story is merely about the many individuals who influenced and paved the road for the soon-to-be mob boss.
Though the most influential of all was Tony’s uncle, Dickie Moltisanti, played by Alessandro Nivola. It’s quickly established that the rest of the film will fall mostly on the character of Dickie Moltisanti, who is struggling to maintain his bloody professional life while also juggling his messy personal responsibilities. In the midst of the many pitfalls tampering with his life, Moltisanti tries desperately to remain an influential uncle to Tony but with his mentality slowly sullied, Tony, is a witness to the transpired events leading to his steadily rotting image.
The Many Saints of Newark, tells a tale of a mobster family contributing to the Newark riots of 1967 and taking names to propel their success at the risk of losing their lives and the potential futures of their families. With a narrative that is somewhat form-fitting, director Alan Taylor (Thor: The Dark World, Terminator Genisys) bites off a bit more than he can chew when directing a film preceding the events of The Sopranos. An abundance of material and questions to be answered can only be taken to rigid lengths when only given a 2-hour runtime, and a film heavily expecting the audience to be very familiar with the series and the characters before watching this film. As a standalone film, it’s a rushed, generic, and montage-like mob story packaged with exceptionally impressive performances and screenwriting with a purpose to answer questions and explore the depths of old and new characters. And whether or not you watch this film with The Sopranos knowledge in mind, you will still be left wanting much more after being introduced to new and interesting individuals all deserving of their own spotlight.
Its lackluster direction and muddled narrative structure, however, in no way drag the sublime performances down at any point throughout the film. Perhaps one of 2021’s best-supporting cast and executions. Without a doubt, every member of the cast delivers a scarily real performance throughout and never lets up for a second. From Ray Liotta as the older and wiser reflection of Nivola’s character to Michael Gandolfini filling the shoes of his late and great father, James Gandolfini. Each actor carries the weight of this film on their shoulders to convince the audience of this gritty environment these families must endure day by day. Alessandro Nivola (The Art of Self-Defense, Disobedience) especially hits the head of the nail perfectly, playing the leader and troubled mob boss splendidly. Each dynamic between characters grants a tenacious depth to the tone of the film, such as wonderfully talented Vera Farmiga And Michela De Rossi.
What’s disappointing is the overall runtime, with so many characters waiting to be fleshed out and arcs beginning to develop, the film abruptly ends after a few words of narration. It’s clear this type of prequel would have been great as a mini-series of some sort so that it would enable it to take its time to properly flesh out and explore more of these storylines that start and are never given a conclusion. Leslie Odom Jr.,’s (Hamilton, One Night in Miami) character, for example, is written a fine beginning to a potential arc but towards the end, it’s as if the writers forget about his path entirely. It’s moments like these that show how rushed the narrative is, jumping from character to character to delve slightly but never finish off their compelling arcs.
Along with its dubious writing, The Many Saints of Newark is shot with weirdly no soul, coupled with an absurdly dark filter accenting the gray composites. From a technical aspect, it doesn’t have much going for it other than impressive set pieces, and the plethora of stagnant shots along with muddy cinematography takes the term “gritty filmmaking” to a whole new level.
And with most of the strengths of this film stemming from the performances and some character writing, there appears to be no compelling exterior to the overall narrative, rushing at great speeds for no good reason, skipping past potential. Alan Taylor turns in a below efficacious result with pieces of a story missing, with a general lack of care of neat storytelling. The Many Saints of Newark pawns itself as the all-encompassing mobster flick of the year.
Yeah I didn’t like it either, it felt like a very long episode instead of a film and i felt lost
Seeing it tonight! Saw Venom last night and then it’s Bond next week!
I seen it and it was ok. A lot questions unanswered and the reveal that ties in with series was underwhelming. Not a bad film, but ok.
I felt the casting was very good, but the film was VERY hard to follow! It was missing too much, and just felt like an episode, rather a movie. I also was hoping we would have more of a young tony soprano in it, but they ended up making it more about Christopher’s parents. I give it 2 stars.
I liked The Sopranos well enough, it’s last two excellent seasons when it really hit its stride, especially the season with Buscemi. And yet I don’t have much interest in this. Will probably catch it sometime down the road. I’ve been watching clips of the show on YouTube and would much rather go back and watch the complete episodes again.
I thought it was ok. Lacked a bit of focus at time and doesn’t recreate the feeling of The Sopranos. It was still a fun time and Michael Gandolfini playing Tony was a great sight!
Watched last night and we were kinda ‘Meh’. Agree with your assessment above. Glad I didn’t pay to see it in a theater.
the best part for me was seeing the actors. the ones who played the main crew as young men were terrific. they body language was particularly great. Livia, what challenge! Nancy Marchand was a wonder. Vera Farmiga did as well as one could, I suppose. I’ll have to watch it again tonight.
I thought the cast did an excellent job and there were no weak performances. I agree with you about the cast. For me Corey Stoll’s Uncle Junior was so fantastic that I could see Dominic Chianese in so much of his performance but he wasn’tdoing an impersonation or mimicry Dominic. It was eerie and surreal. While I agree that there were unanswered questions and plot lines left unfulfilled, I did like the ending scene with Tony and the transition to the source material, but from a cinematic perspective. I wonder with all of the unanswered plot points if it’s intended to be a duology or trilogy and they just haven’t mentioned it yet yo Guage fan reaction. Sometimes that happens. They give you enough to stay interested but keep you on the hook wanting more. If it bombs then it is what it is and the fans have the show. If it’s well received then they can act like big shots and say it was a trilogy all along. Studios today are afraid to take risks, especially when rebooting or building on existing source material. Fans today are so rabid. I can completely see WB being gun shy about building on the Sopranos world given their recent experiences with DCEU films and Fandom as well as Marvel and Star Wars fandoms. It only makes sense the WB would tentatively approach adding on to such a critically acclaimed fan favorite show. So, maybe there’s more coming. I’d like to see a little more. I don’t need a full series but maybe another movie or two max. For all of its flaws, thanks to the cast and characters, the film made me want to start rewatching the series again. I would consider that a small success
Boring af Watch Good Fellas instead
Loved it, little less Ray. Hopefully it spins off into something. Loved seeing the younger version of everyone.
The Many Saints of Newark…..Landmark effort. It’s everything wrong and everything right with America in 2021. This pairs wonderfully with Wrath of Man for unintended horror films.
Lack of focus and boring. A missed opportunity. Not worthy to be linked with the Soprano’s legacy.
When I first read the synopsis for “Titane,” about a woman who had sex with a car, I wondered how that would be handled. It’s the most memorable sequence in the film. I mostly enjoyed “Titane,” though the final 30 minutes were a bit predictable. There’s a fair blend of comedy mixed in. I went in with little expectations. The trailer gave me glimpses, but nothing too concrete was given away. I appreciate that in a good movie trailer. I’m more so a fan of Ducournau’s “Raw” than I was “Titane,” but I look forward to a potential re-watch years from now. If there was symbolism or a deeper meaning to what transpired, I still don’t understand it.
Whenever I see a film, whether it’s a sequel or prequel, I ask myself “Was this movie necessary! Did it add anything to the original?” The answer to these questions are “No” when it comes to “The Many Saints of Newark”. I can’t come up for a good excuse for having this movie made. The only character that was fleshed out if only a little was Dickie Moltasanti.
We see that Uncle Junior had him killed. Why? Because he laughed at him when he slipped down the church stairs? Pretty flimsy reason. If there was another reason we’ll never know. In the Sopranos Tony tells Christopher a cop shot his father. Did Junior hire this cop? We’ll never know.
The movie added absolutely nothing to the greatness that was the Sopranos. Maybe, and that’s a weak maybe, it would have been better as a limited series.
Waste of time.