Shottas

A bit uneven, Shottas suffers from low quality transfers that just add to the film's problems. My dvd copy would sometimes cut to a black screen that would say: Insert more robbery scenes here. Technical problems aside: the meaningful dialogue is quite slim- character development seems aimed at an increase in robberies, the direction is lop-sided and meandering, never really wanting to show you much more than hot chicks and nice whips(would have made for a nice extended music video). While I did like the music, it's over-used and just sort of "there"- didn't do much for the film other than elicit some head-nodding on my part. The Anderson character is a joke-he's a political-bad guy cut-out. And how about that "tongue-in-cheek" joke about Wyclef's character banking on a music career? Horrible. Did I care what happened at the end of the film to the main characters? Not really, they were bad people who did bad things, a sentiment I held regarding Cess Silvera's directing effort.

I read that the movie is very bad. I don't agree. Some scenes are filmed like soap-opera but in general the movie avoids all the clichés from the Hollywood films. I recently saw Miami Vice from Michael Mann and I hated it. For Hollywood there are only good guys and bad guys. Just that, nothing in between. Instead in Shottas shows you exactly how gangsters are created. Created by imitation. Dreaming of a nice life that will never come. Music score is very good and Marley is good even he is not a real pro-actor. Some of the gangsters look like if they were taken from the real shanty-towns of Kingston. That is good. Shows authenticity.

If you like shoot em ups then this will appeal to you and to be real you shouldnt be watching if you don't i supppose thats why it is called shottas. It basically follows the fortunes of two young men who grow up as close as brothers. They are the original shottas two youts who grow in the ghetto and use ghetto menatlity to get them out. They go to America and ive a good life for a while until all the bad deeds in their past consume them.

On the whole the film is very entertaining and to some degree real( however the last time i was in kingston i saw a father beat hs son for playing guns) it highlights not only the poorness of Jamaican people but also the political entities that keep them poor and how these entities use the so called bad men of yard to put them in power.

Kymani and Spragga's acting is a very good effort and if the opportunity arises for them to continue they will no doubt become very good at it, i am not too sure who wrote the dialouge but it is very real and it shows "wayne" to have a wicked sense of humour.

Oh and watch out for Max and the sick mentality he has which is another way of projecting the futility and destruction caused by the greed to be the richest and baddest man.

Shottas tells the story of Biggs & Wayne. Both poverty stricken Jamaican youths who want the "shotta" (jamaican for gangster) lifestyle. They begin by robbing a cola truck and move on from there. The story was actually good. As said in other comments, I also was ready for "another rapper" movie. Ky-mani Marley did a great job. Same goes for Spragga Benz. If you want to see a gritty, violent, & entertaining tale, watch Shottas.

I was very entertained by this yaad-man's gangster flick. Spragga Benz is great in his first true role as a Jamaican drug dealer/gunman...Lots of familiar faces were seen in this from Wyclef to Lennox Lewis down to Tyson Beckford(Biker Boyz)... Haven't seen it on DVD but I will be sure to buy when it shows up