El jefe de la mafia: Gotti

It's bad enough this film took four directors, 44 producers and eight years to make, but then adding actor Kevin Connolly turned novice director, and two novice screenwriters made this film unbearable.

The writing was a hack job and all over the place and the director clearly had issues directing his all-star cast, not to mention his poor choice of camera angles and annoying zoom in's that seemed to be filmed by a 10 year old with a 1990's HandyCam.

The story itself was however very interesting and Travolta and the rest of the cast did the best they could with the convoluted mess the novice film-makers handed them.

It's a very generous 6/10 from me.

This chronicles the life of John Gotti (John Travolta) from a ruthless killer to the big mob boss of the Gambino crime family. Victoria (Kelly Preston) is his loyal wife. His son faces prison time of his own.

This is flat. There is little life to these characters. Travolta is doing an impression and I'm torn about his effectiveness. At times, he's doing fine but at other times, he's hamming it up. There is no doubt about the directing from Kevin Connolly. It is at best TV quality. The son is the key to a character based portrayal. Sadly, the kid playing the role is a muscle head and he doesn't have the skills or the experience. He's not given the chance anyways. There is no heart to this material.

Ok so before I start I have to say that this movie is only really going to make sense to those who lived through the life and times of John Gotti. If you are looking for a mob movie like Goodfellas this is not for you. This is a story that would be impossible to tell in 2 hrs but the film did the best it could and I respect that. First off, on a budget of about 10 million dollars I think that the producers did a hell of a job. Everyone who is critical of this film has to realize that it was made with not that much money. Travolta made this movie. His acting was great and it needs to be recognized. It lacks the starpower of other mob biopics etc. but the actors were okay. I did not really care for the part of John Gotti Jr. and feel like they could have gotten someone a little tougher looking to play the part. It almost was a character booster to clear junior Gotti at some point that I can agree with. All in all for what it is it is a decent movie. This movie never stood a chance being reviewed by critics. If you wanna see a good acting job by Travolta and you are interested in John Gotti you will be happy. If you don't know anything about the mob or any backstory on its history you might as well sit this one out.

...a better film. But the chosen way to tell the story of Gotti is wrong. It becomes pathetic. John Travolta has, maybe in too much measure, the desire to give the role of his career and the result becomes almost pathetic. Something essential is missing for transform the subject in more than a pledge for a dark hero. Sure, like each film of good intentions, it is a good first step to discover the life and activity of John Gotti. But, after each indulgence nuance, it is clear - it could be a better film.

"Gotti" is not as bad as advertised. Do you like John Travolta? If so, this is his picture, and it would have been better if he had more control over it - particularly the editing. "Gotti" does not flow, it is episodic - choppy, as though several Gotti blackouts were slapped together, which offloads suspense and vastly reduces tension. Add to that the random addition of a loud music score. I say 'random' because the music is a bunch of '80's hits which do not provide context and weren't all hits. Plus, the music track was so loud as be intrusive.

Travolta carries the picture, and a big mistake was made in selecting the actor for the Junior Gotti part. Spencer LoFranco makes a nice appearance but lacks acting ability and does this movie no favors. The rest of the cast is good and come off as credible 'gangstas'. It is a good - but not great - picture which relies a lot on dialogue and needed more action and better editing.