The Many Saints of Newark

This coming from a huge Sopranos fan who as many people, been looking forward to this movie with great anticipation. Afterall mr. Chase being involved ought to almost guarantee quality.

However, then you start reading about some delays and production trouble, then Chase was not directing it, was not directly writing the script, and so on and so forth... Just one after another misteps from the studio.

So we got what we get in 90% nowadays. Average, check-patronizing-woke boxes flick, shallow characters (that are basically skimmed through), incoherent jumping story and many pretentious moments trying to be more than they are.

Nothing like the Sopranos, where every moment was more than what it appeared at first, where characters were all interesting and multilayered and each episode was an intriguing story, 10 or 20 times what this movie is.

A huge disappointment, not even close to the quality of Sopranos. Half of the movie is as is usual today forced political patronizing and blaming white people for everything, which is the last thing I expected from a Chase "product", that he would sell out like this to please others. Also in general it is a bad mob flick with too much jumping and no focus.

I dont know if Chase was forced into a position with no say or he sold out but unless told, I would never belive a person who created Sopranos could also be involved with this travesty of a movie.

Jon Bernthal said this film isn't like the Sopranos, and I can see what he means. I walked in thinking this would focus on Tony Sopranos' route to becoming who he is when we meet him in the first episode of the Sopranos, but instead, it focuses on Christopher's dad, Dickie Moltisanti.

The acting is superb, but the plot is thin. Dickie is not a particularly interesting character. In fact, I think focusing on Johnny Soprano would've made for a way more gripping film. What we end up with is something half-baked, more of a mini series than a stand-alone film. I have to admit, when the credits started coming up, I was thinking, "Is this it?"

For a Sopranos fan, it's worth a watch, but ultimately, it was underwhelming.

If the Sopranos had relied on this film to launch the tv series, the show would never had been released.

Its an average film, neither offensive to the brain nor exhilarating, but it fails miserably to develop any excitement to the 'coming' of Tony.

If you want to watch a movie about growing up to become a gangster...watch Goodfellas :)

Why was half the film about racial tensions and a black gangster? What was this huge inspiration Dickie gave to Tony? How is this co written by the creator of the Sopranos?

If this movie had nothing to do with the Sopranos it would be mediocre with an overly abrupt ending. Compared to a similar movie like A Bronx tale it has no soul.

But as a prequel to the Sopranos it is badly written, paced, and at times boring.

Some of the performances were good, and you can tell the actors really tried their best to portray their older counterpart. But ultimately most come off as caricatures (especially Silvio). Michael Gandolfini is just too young an actor to pull off Tony, but he does try.

The black characters subplot was completely unnecessary, only really planting a seed where someone does something unbelievably stupid at a beach (you'll see what I mean). Where does he fit in the Sopranos tale? What the hell is Frank Lucas doing here? Did I just watch beat poetry in a Sopranos movie?

I admit I haven't seen the show in a few years, but have watched it several times start to finish. This is beyond subpar by comparison.

What happened David Chase? Did you lose a bet with the HBO execs?

Remember when "The Sopranos" took the television show to new narrative heights? Remember when each new episode was more anxiously awaited than any new movie? Remember when you wished more movies could be told as TV series or miniseries on HBO or Showtime, so that they could go into more detail, and take their time developing?

It is ironic that the show that surpassed film would then go back to that form, and all the more ironic that the resultant film doesn't hold a candle to the TV show. We hung on every moment of "Sopranos". People watch and re-watch scenes noticing tell-tale placement of actors in similar positions to where the actors were in prior scenes. They go over dialogue, building profiles of characters who never even appear on the show, but we get to know them better than most on-screen characters in other shows.

The legendary Dickie Moltisanti was oft mentioned on the show, and here we finally get to see him, played by one of the few Italian-American actors who isn't famous for mob roles, Alessandro Nivola. For such a revered figure, he turns out to be a dead end, not emerging with any discernible personality. That should be okay though, because of course this movie shows us younger versions of characters we all know and oddly love, such as Silvio Dante, Paulie Walnuts, Uncle Junior. Except - wait a minute. None of them say or do anything interesting here. The guy who plays Silvio particularly just seems to be trying as hard as he can to ape Steve Van Zandt. You can never take him seriously as the character. And how is Billy Magnussen's Paulie Walnuts so boring? He stole every scene on "The Sopranos". Here he does nothing.

"The Sopranos". So many great lines. So many great scenes. You can watch YouTubes of them for hours without getting bored. "The Many Saints of Newark" barely captured my interest at all. David Chase has gone on record saying that he had his doubts about whether a film based on his classic television series would have worked. He should have trusted this instinct.