The Many Saints of Newark

 

Yes I was disappointed. 

 I will start with the positives. It looks good- I liked the mentioning of Mussolini having been popular with Italian America before WW2  The Many Saints is not overlong - It comes in at 2 hours

 Michael Gandofini is fine as a young Tony Soprano. The writers don't really give him much to do.  Whatever is wrong with this film- is not due to Gandofini

The female lead is stunning.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8995141/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t7

She seems to have cut her hair- The camera is in love with her. She looks like a young Sophia Loren 

There are good strong supporting performances by the cast.  Now Jon Bernthal and Farmiga are solid as Livia and Johnny Boy Soprano. Though the Film makes Johnny Boy look weak He was a Mob Capo   Uncle Junior is almost comic relief- Indeed their are a few scenes where he says Your Sisters Cu.. Which apparently became his catchphrase on HBO's promo reels. It seems to be inferred that Uncle Junior is gay too - This was not the case. 

Magnusson does a good job as a young Paulie Walnuts. His aggression communicated by stare and attitude  The actor playing Silvio Dante seems to be dressed up as Robbie Rotten -  One crucial plot point relies on a knowledge of the Sopranos. 

The plot is basically a love triangle It is disappointing- oh and also the plot demands the young wife/ mistress who group in Scilly and ran in Mafia circles for a few years to suddenly be a moron. It also needs Dicki's mistress to suddenly find his nemesis so she can have sex with him

There seem to be several stories here - 

The Newark riots. ( A nice scene when Dickie Moltisanti is let pass by the NG as he is white)The rise of black gangs v the Mafia. This story is probably the best one

 The destiny of Tony Soprano and the fate of Dickie and his lover are the other stories intertwined here  I said there is a lot here. It seems the Sopranos were bolted onto this story Or its like when a TV show introduces a character as a romantic lead for a TV movie and then forgets them 

 I questioned why characters did certain things, and what motivated them. Why is Johnny Soprano so eager to let another guy influence his son? He seems to take a back seat to Dickie about the raising of his own flesh and blood

 Surely this should be a film about a romantic and platonic love triangle. The Bride and Dickie, and Tony and Dickie 

There is one scene in the first quarter of the film, which is very good. The mobsters are eating at one of their favourite haunts. Dickie opens the fire exit door, and they see the flames of the Newark riots. Romans or rather Pompeiians looking on as Vesuvius erupts. They use this imagery later 

The young Tony pointing out that it is not surprising there were Jews in Ivanhoe 

I also wonder if the lead character was originally written as not Dick Moltisanti but Richie Aprille I saw Richie's body language in this performance

We see Carmela  Yet her relationship with her uncle Dickie is not explored. It is rarely mentioned in the Sopranos Also Tony and Chris would seem to be have married their mothers 

The lad who plays the young Artie Buco is nicely cast. He has the look of Prince Rogane 

Okay was the Many Saints  supposed to be a series and it was compressed? 

Or is it supposed to be the story of the Soprano's and Moltisanti's destroyed by Juniors jealousy Now this was the case across the Soprano's no matter how high they rose. There venality or criminality brought them down. Be it a joke about Johnny Sac's wife or Vito's predilection or the whole plot about Junior 11eating fish''. The Mob is destroyed by petty jealousy and spite again

 I cant help but notice they drink rolling rock  in this film. Rolling Rock is an awful beer. It makes sense this is an awful film