The Many Saints of Newark
Starring Alessandro Nivola, Leslie Odom Jr., Vera Farmiga, Michael Gandolfini
Directed by Alan Taylor
The HBO series "The Sopranos" was unique, to stay the least. Spanning six seasons, the show earned numerous accolades and made household names out of the likes of James Gandolfini, and centered around Gandolfini's character Tony Soprano, a powerful mobster who must balance his dangerous occupation with protecting and caring for his family. After the series ended, talks of a movie were brought up almost immediately, but then James Gandolfini tragically passed away while on vacation in Rome in 2013, and all talks stalled because Gandolfini's Tony Soprano is a character that could never be recast, as his performance is still hailed as one of television's best performances. So talks moved to a prequel film idea, with original creator David Chase returning to co-write the script and serve as producer for the product. "The Many Saints of Newark" is that long-awaited film, and although it includes Gandolfini's son Michael as a young Tony Soprano, the film itself is rather bland and lifeless, calling on the tropes of other mobster movies that don't allow the characters to delve deeper into their personalities as scenes jump rigidly from one moment to the next.
In Newark, New Jersey, in the late 1960s, Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola) serves as a soldier for the DiMeo crime family, in the midst of race riots that leads to several buildings being burned and countless fights in the streets. As the years progress, Dickie's "nephew" Tony Soprano (Michael Gandolfini) keeps getting into trouble at school while his mother Livia (Vera Farmiga) is at her wit's end. With his father Johnny (Jon Bernthal) in prison, Dickie becomes a father figure for young Tony, and he looks up to his "uncle," and as Dickie rises among the ranks he gets involved in the race wars in Newark, as well as garnering enemies from within.
"The Sopranos" had six seasons to fully develop their characters and give them profound stories that cemented their legacy as some of the best characters in television history, so in a sense trying to re-create that magic for a two-hour film isn't particularly fair, but they knew that would be the expectation going into the project. Instead of memorable moments that have been imprinted on the minds of "Sopranos" fans, this film falters from the start and doesn't pick up momentum at any point, serving more as a glossed-over "Goodfellas" or "The Godfather" wannabe than a true origin story of Tony Soprano, with excessive cut editing that whisks the viewers from one story to the next where the only satisfying outcome is what happens at the end of those vignettes. There's nothing exceptionally memorable about the film, and it'll be long forgotten before you decide to re-watch the fantastic series it's based off of.
While it's somewhat easy to understand why they would cast big-name actors for the movie roles, it also takes away from the intimacy "The Sopranos" delivered. Hardly anyone knew of James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Lorraine Bracco, Michael Imperioli and others, "The Many Saints of Newark" throws a bunch of A-list celebrities into the film, thus diluting the familial nature of the show. Who knew Tony Soprano's parents were Shane from "The Walking Dead" and Lorraine Warren from "The Conjuring?" Jon Bernthal and Vera Farmiga star as Tony Soprano's parents, but neither one of them have a lot to do with the story. Bernthal's Johnny is in prison for most of it, and Farmiga's Livia has only a few actual moments of speech longer than one line. They could've been replaced with no-name actors and it would've actually had a bigger impact. Leslie Odom Jr. and Corey Stoll also star in the film as typical stock characters, and they hold to the golden rule of mobster movies: Ray Liotta must star in it. Not only is Ray Liotta in the film as well, but he does duel roles! Twice the Liotta, twice the mobster movie, right? Not necessarily, as both his roles in this film are as memorable as the color of the carpet in young Tony Soprano's room (I think it was green).
There's really two stories that are going on in "The Many Saints of Newark," and somehow, inexplicably, neither one gets fully developed. The main crux of the film centers around Alessandro Nivola's Dickie Moltisanti (father of Chris Moltisanti, whom if you've watched "The Sopranos," has a major impact in the series), as he sorta rises the ranks of the DiMeo crime family (but not really) and falls in love with his father's current mistress, Giuseppina (Michela De Rossi), and serves as Tony Soprano's mentor for about five minutes of the two-hour film. It's hard to say what actually he does other than talk to his henchmen, hang out with his girl and his friends, and kills people only to later attend their funerals (the funeral business was certainly booming). He maintains his tough guy facade throughout the film and doesn't seem to learn anything from the start to finish, and his character is never elevated because of that.
When word about the film really hit the atmosphere, the biggest pleasant surprise was that James Gandolfini's son Michael would be playing the young Tony Soprano in the film, and many wrongfully thought the movie was an origin story of Tony's rise to power (the movie's poster clearly dispelled that rumor in big block letters), but still his performance was something everyone was anticipating to see. While Michael Gandolfini isn't a seasoned actor (this is his first really big role), he also doesn't get a lot to do as the younger Tony Soprano, and he only appears about halfway into the film (William Ludwig plays Tony at a younger age in the first half, and even he has more stuff to do than Michael). When he finally does hit the big screen, it's to do traditional teenage antics - steal ice cream trucks, talk back to his mother, and perform poorly in school despite his guidance counselor finding that he's actually very intelligent. As he breezes through his performance, Michael isn't given anything really deep to chew on, and serves more as a wasted opportunity than a meteoric rise to fame for James's son in a way that James himself had when he originated the role.
Offering bite-sized moments of mobster mania while trying to establish a history for "The Sopranos," "The Many Saints of Newark" instead becomes a typical, generic mobster movie that lacks emotional resonance and clearly comes off as a wannabe cash grab to pull viewers of the beloved series in.
The Score: C+
In Newark, New Jersey, in the late 1960s, Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola) serves as a soldier for the DiMeo crime family, in the midst of race riots that leads to several buildings being burned and countless fights in the streets. As the years progress, Dickie's "nephew" Tony Soprano (Michael Gandolfini) keeps getting into trouble at school while his mother Livia (Vera Farmiga) is at her wit's end. With his father Johnny (Jon Bernthal) in prison, Dickie becomes a father figure for young Tony, and he looks up to his "uncle," and as Dickie rises among the ranks he gets involved in the race wars in Newark, as well as garnering enemies from within.
"The Sopranos" had six seasons to fully develop their characters and give them profound stories that cemented their legacy as some of the best characters in television history, so in a sense trying to re-create that magic for a two-hour film isn't particularly fair, but they knew that would be the expectation going into the project. Instead of memorable moments that have been imprinted on the minds of "Sopranos" fans, this film falters from the start and doesn't pick up momentum at any point, serving more as a glossed-over "Goodfellas" or "The Godfather" wannabe than a true origin story of Tony Soprano, with excessive cut editing that whisks the viewers from one story to the next where the only satisfying outcome is what happens at the end of those vignettes. There's nothing exceptionally memorable about the film, and it'll be long forgotten before you decide to re-watch the fantastic series it's based off of.
While it's somewhat easy to understand why they would cast big-name actors for the movie roles, it also takes away from the intimacy "The Sopranos" delivered. Hardly anyone knew of James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Lorraine Bracco, Michael Imperioli and others, "The Many Saints of Newark" throws a bunch of A-list celebrities into the film, thus diluting the familial nature of the show. Who knew Tony Soprano's parents were Shane from "The Walking Dead" and Lorraine Warren from "The Conjuring?" Jon Bernthal and Vera Farmiga star as Tony Soprano's parents, but neither one of them have a lot to do with the story. Bernthal's Johnny is in prison for most of it, and Farmiga's Livia has only a few actual moments of speech longer than one line. They could've been replaced with no-name actors and it would've actually had a bigger impact. Leslie Odom Jr. and Corey Stoll also star in the film as typical stock characters, and they hold to the golden rule of mobster movies: Ray Liotta must star in it. Not only is Ray Liotta in the film as well, but he does duel roles! Twice the Liotta, twice the mobster movie, right? Not necessarily, as both his roles in this film are as memorable as the color of the carpet in young Tony Soprano's room (I think it was green).
There's really two stories that are going on in "The Many Saints of Newark," and somehow, inexplicably, neither one gets fully developed. The main crux of the film centers around Alessandro Nivola's Dickie Moltisanti (father of Chris Moltisanti, whom if you've watched "The Sopranos," has a major impact in the series), as he sorta rises the ranks of the DiMeo crime family (but not really) and falls in love with his father's current mistress, Giuseppina (Michela De Rossi), and serves as Tony Soprano's mentor for about five minutes of the two-hour film. It's hard to say what actually he does other than talk to his henchmen, hang out with his girl and his friends, and kills people only to later attend their funerals (the funeral business was certainly booming). He maintains his tough guy facade throughout the film and doesn't seem to learn anything from the start to finish, and his character is never elevated because of that.
When word about the film really hit the atmosphere, the biggest pleasant surprise was that James Gandolfini's son Michael would be playing the young Tony Soprano in the film, and many wrongfully thought the movie was an origin story of Tony's rise to power (the movie's poster clearly dispelled that rumor in big block letters), but still his performance was something everyone was anticipating to see. While Michael Gandolfini isn't a seasoned actor (this is his first really big role), he also doesn't get a lot to do as the younger Tony Soprano, and he only appears about halfway into the film (William Ludwig plays Tony at a younger age in the first half, and even he has more stuff to do than Michael). When he finally does hit the big screen, it's to do traditional teenage antics - steal ice cream trucks, talk back to his mother, and perform poorly in school despite his guidance counselor finding that he's actually very intelligent. As he breezes through his performance, Michael isn't given anything really deep to chew on, and serves more as a wasted opportunity than a meteoric rise to fame for James's son in a way that James himself had when he originated the role.
Offering bite-sized moments of mobster mania while trying to establish a history for "The Sopranos," "The Many Saints of Newark" instead becomes a typical, generic mobster movie that lacks emotional resonance and clearly comes off as a wannabe cash grab to pull viewers of the beloved series in.
The Score: C+
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