Shottas

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.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Biggs (Kymani Marley) and Wayne (Spragga Benz) grew up together on the mean streets of Kingston, Jamaica, and build up a huge drug dealing network that extends from their home town to the streets of Washington and Miami. But as the stakes rise and the games turn deadly, their rise to the top could be followed by a spectacular fall.

Having West Indian work colleagues, the particular lingo they use grows on you after a while and you can pick up some of this particular mangling of the English language. But the 'patois' featured heavily in Shottas would appear to be so heavy that subtitles are required through out, even if you do try to get rid of them on the menu screen. Their particular phrases, descriptions and certainly insults will certainly make an impression on you and so, even if this tale of young upstarts rising through the criminal underworld isn't particularly original or inspired, it's distinctive and amusing enough for this reason alone. Bob Marley's son Kymani Marley has presence in the lead role, and there's other musical talent in the cast including Wyclef Jean in a supporting role. ***

This movie will probably be difficult to find, but it's worth it!

Cess Silvera does a good job directing. Everything looks very cool and stylish. He also captures the action scenes very well, they are not overly bloody either. Well done to him on the writing too. It is an original story. There aren't many movies (actually I don't know of any) that show the life of a shotta/gangster on the streets of Jamaica. Also the Jamaican drug dealers in Miami. I hope to see more from Cess Silvera!

Quite good soundtrack. All the songs suit the scene their placed in.

Some people thought that the acting wasn't good. I thought it was fine. Each actor plays their character very well. The stand outs were Ky-Mani Marley and Paul Campbell.

Overall I thought it was a cool and enjoyable movie. A good gangster film. As I said before, it maybe difficult to find, but it's worth it!

Video merchant said was a modern day harder they come. And then noted the big name artists Wyclef, Spragga benz and Bob Marleys son. How could you go wrong?

Video quality really bad, maybe I got the DVD bootleg? Story unimpressive and lacking any real moral twists. Every scene is just macho word play and shootouts. I could care less if anybody got murdered. Classics like the harder they come or say good fellas,scarface or godfather had feeling, ,action, violence and a story. This flick has no heart more akin to a glorified music video. Good music & T/A , acting wasn't terrible but overall under-developed plot.

Do yourself a favor and skip this one.

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.