Directed by: Alan Taylor
Starring: Alessandro Nivola, Leslie Odom Jr., Vera Farmiga, Jon Bernthal, Corey Stoll, Michael Gandolfini, Ray Liotta
Looks like it is gonna happen, what everybody is talking about: there will be a new TV show, The Sopranos part II or under some other name- doesn’t make a difference- it will be good and it will make tons of money for Chase, his production company and all his fellas around him. It will be a real “boom” judging by the pilot episode called “The Many Saints of Newark.” A great foundation for building another long-running, successful, and money making project.
This is one very good movie. It has everything: family, drama, social, and racial aspects of American society in late 60s, old political topics that relate to modern day political reality, gang wars, violence, blood, love, hate, the black mob versus the Italian mafia, killing inside the family; killing outside the family, revenge of the revenge… You name it. Absolutely everything. And all those things packed in one very fast- moving and highly dynamic package. That’s the formula for one great mob/mafia/organized crime- or however you want to name it- movie.
The action takes place when Tony Soprano was a young child and a teenager. The movie shows the relationship and influence of his uncle Dickie (played by Alessandro Nivola), who is actually in the center of all Mafioso activities of a couple close Italian mob families at that time. Dickie did a lot of bad things in his life, even so, many times he was actually the “nice guy” surrounded by invisible enemies, people close to him, people from his family. While he was thinking that they were on his side, they were slowly digging his grave behind his back.
On the day when Dickie gets the advice that the best gift he can give to his nephew Tony would be to stay out of his life, he gets killed. That was, in fact, the moment when Tony Soprano’s life gets turned upside down. Instead of ending up on the college football team, he ends up on the streets, first of all, looking for revenge for his uncle’s death.
The casting for this movie is one of the best on any screen (big or small) recently. All of the actors and the characters are matched perfectly. No doubt, the biggest hit is Michael Gandolfini in the role of a teenage Tony Soprano. This is just it. It cannot be any better. 100 percent cloning.
In comparison to the original Sopranos show, which was filmed with poor technique and without a large budget, “The many saints of Newark” looks much more mature visually. Production design is something totally different from the original “Sopranos.” It looks rich, full of very well-executed scenes. The atmosphere on the streets of America in the late 60s and early 70s is so authentic, so the audience can get a feeling this is a real part of what was going on there some 5 decades ago.
The movie ends with a new version of the original Sopranos TV show theme music. Very effective. Another big point for the director and the production. Just one more confirmation that the new show will be the right thing for all Sopranos fans. They are all, for sure hoping that filming of the new Sopranos show starts right away.
