Gangstas 4 Life

Bad writing, cliché dialogues and incredibly flat characters lead to wretched performances by otherwise good actors like Matteo Simoni.

Belgian directors Adil el Arbi and Bilall Fallah made 2 good relatively good movies before this one: Image and Black. Yet Gangsta/Patser is a absolute mess. The story is all over the place, the characters are depicted as lowlifes who are unable to do anything meaningful but bark at each other and repeat lines from cult movies as Scarface over and over and over. It has been a long time since I watched a movie with characters as flat as the ones in this film.

El Arbi and Fallah really missed a chance of making a great movie here that would put themselves and lead actor Matteo Simoni in the spotlight. In some sort they actually did this, but not in a positive way.

The writing is okay, albeit cliché, and I enjoyed the Morrocon Belgian culture since I grew up with a lot of Morrocon Belgians. Matteo Simoni however was really unconvincing as a Morrocon. Like, think James Franco in Spring Breakers unconincing. Not even mentioning his really forced accent; They also tried to kinda imitate the neon-y vaporwave feeling but they only did it like 3 times which made it feel really out of place, as the rest of the movie didn't fit the same "neon" feel.

The story was okay but I got kinda put off by how forced the whole thing felt. I feel like some of the cast just didn't fit at all. They wouldn't found better people to play the main guys just walking through the Sleepstraat once.

A fast-paced drug-fuelled urban story. Unlike any other film in Belgian cinema history this flick keeps the finger on the pulse aiming at a young audience. The rumor mill spun out of control as the directors were linked to big budget action movies but with this one they obviously want to follow in the footsteps of Martin Scorsese, and did a great job. Speedy cuts, voice-over story telling and raw humour will have uncle Marty in stitches, the Wolf of Wall Street is never far off. Foreign viewers will miss out on the true crime references but be aware; 75% of the events portrayed actually happened in Belgium & Holland in the 2010s. Some minor stuttering in the tempo and unnecessary twists & turns in the plot keep this from getting a straight A.

One of the best action movies I've seen a long time. Patser knows what it is, an action movie, and know what it wants, to entertain people, and does both things brilliantly.

The performances are stellar, especially Matteo Simoni's, and the visual style is electrifying. I can't watch it again!

I speak flamish (belgian language) and the acting may seem bad fore some people but if you speak my language u will see its pretty good the actors are famous in belgium and evrybody loves this movie in begium but i think the ending whas a bit heavy but still a great movie