So, The Many Saints of Newark is finally here! The long awaited prequel movie to the classic
mob drama The Sopranos, 14 years after the show ended and produced by Sopranos creator
David Chase and directed by one of The Sopranos’ original directors Alan Taylor.
I’m conscious of the fact that the film isn’t actually out yet in the states, so
this review will be spoiler free, right up until I tell you I’m discussing spoilers.
We got it a few days ago actually, but I was ill so haven’t been able to see it until
now. I am still a little ill, so please excuse me if my voice sounds weird. If you have any
questions about the film, and don’t feel you can wait until you see it – or maybe
you just don’t plan to see it – feel free to leave your questions in the comment section
below and I’ll try and answer as much as I can.
So, just to give you a bit of background with my relationship to this film – I’m a huge
Sopranos fan, as you’ll know if you’re familiar with my channel, by the way, please
subscribe and hit the notification bell for more Sopranos content – but I love talking
about it, discussing different theories and things like that. The show is one of the best
ever made, and I always felt like it was complete – everything that needed to be told had
been done, everything was done and dusted. There didn’t need to be a sequel, or a prequel
– the world building was brilliant in the show, and just leave as is, that was always
my stance. I just think that I should mention that to you guys before my review, because
I’m not as emotionally invested in this film as many Sopranos fans will be – I didn’t
think we needed it, and I was more curious about it, cautiously anticipating it, rather
than really looking forward to it. So if it was good, great, I’m pleased. If it was
crap, well we’ll always have The Sopranos. Others will feel different, will maybe want
to Chase David Chase down the high street, but that’s not for me.
So, some pieces of advice, and answers to a few questions I think you might have going
in, before we get down to business. First of all, don’t go into this film expecting
a Tony Soprano origin story. It really is not at all a Tony Soprano movie – it isn’t
about him getting into the mob. There is an element of his origin, but that was always
going to be the case. But really, he isn’t in the film as much as the trailers might
make you think. He’s a solid supporting character, maybe the second most important,
like how Christopher was pretty much the second main character in The Sopranos, but really,
this is Dickie Moltisanti’s story, this is his film. There’s so much talk and hype
about Michael Gandolfini playing his father’s role which has overshadowed the film, but
I really wasn’t thinking about that when watching the movie.
Secondly, do you need to see The Sopranos to see Many Saints? In other words, does it
stand on its own two feet? It can, I’m sure, but I don’t think it makes for a very interesting
film without the Sopranos elements. All the call backs and references are a major part
of the film, how everything in the story evolves from here to The Sopranos. It does work as
a stand alone film, but it isn’t a very good one. The people who are going to watch
this and enjoy it the most, if anybody, are Sopranos fans. I can see people who haven’t
seen the show being very confused at a lot of things, like why there is a focus on a
fat teenager called Tony Soprano. Thirdly, will this movie have an effect on
the way we perceive certain characters and stories in The Sopranos. In other words, do
things happen in the movie which adds a completely different dynamic to things in the show? Definitely.
The movie makes a huge impact on the show in that way, from small things, like Silvio’s
hair in the show being a hairpiece this whole time, which pretty much everyone knows by
now from the Many Saints trailer, to very big things, which I’ll talk about later.
Obviously the big talking point going into he movie, plot wise, was would the movie reveal
if it really was that cop who shot Dickie Moltisanti.
And lastly, there’s been questions as to whether the film will be woke, in this day
and age we live of political correctness. Of course, you have to define as to what woke
actually means – because for me it seems to be a case of where it’s an element, in
regards to political correctness, that you don’t agree with. And I am definitely not
pro-political correctness when it comes to movies, I value authenticity over that, but
I did not feel that Many Saints was a woke movie at all. There is a prominent black characters
played by Lesley Odom Jr, who works for the Italian Americans, but after experiences such
as the Newark riots, wants to go into business for himself, and he’s in part influenced
by the discrimination black people face. But that’s HIS character and his motivation,
it isn’t like the film is trying to spell out a diversity message to you or something.
There’s plenty of racial slurs and women getting beaten up and all of the kinds of
things you’d expect in a 1960s and 70s mob drama. I’ve heard from some sources that
Chase wanted to make a movie about the Newark race riots, and he also toyed around with
the idea of a Sopranos movie. And when he couldn’t get the Newark movie off the ground,
he combined it with The Sopranos film and we got the Many Saints. That I can definitely
see being the case, it does feel like there’s almost two different stories being told here,
which sparingly cross over with each other. As you’ll learn in this review, I wish the
movie had more time to do what it wanted to do, and if that means cutting out stuff, I
could have done without Leslie Odom Jr’s character and his story, even though I enjoyed
it. But if we’re going to choose what we want to cram into a 2 hour Sopranos movie,
I’d pick, you know, the actual Sopranos crew.
So, what did I think of the movie? In short, I though it was good. Not great, I wasn’t
wowed by it. I didn’t think it was amazing, and it’s not like I think it’s made a
massive impact in the Sopranos universe and we’re going to be talking about it for years
and years like we do the series finale, for example. But neither did I think it was terrible.
It’s not a film, as I said, I think we needed, and now that it exists my stance hasn’t
changed, but at the same time, I’m not pulling my hair out, screaming “why did they do
this?! They’ve ruined The Sopranos!” I think it adds more than it takes away, and
at best, I can see fans loving being back in that world with those characters, the life,
the dialogue, the Jersy-ness, and at worst, I can see fans who were really looking forward
to it being bored, thinking – is that it? Is that what I waited for all these years.
Because really, and this might be the best way to describe the movie, given how low key
it is – it feels like a Sopranos episode, one that’s just a bit longer than usual.
I enjoyed it – I’d probably give it a solid 7/10 – and I imagine I’ll enjoy
it even more upon rewatches, because a bit like with Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman
where your focus on your first viewing is the de-aging CGI, here your focus is on the
classic characters being played by younger actors.
So what is the film about? Well, it tackles a few things here a there, perhaps, dare I
say it, biting off more than it can chew. I can see an argument for the movie being
a prequel TV series instead of a film, and I do think sequels, which are planned as I
mentioned in a previous video, would be good for the film and could even improve it, with
things in this movie being built upon. After all, it has so much to do for such a short
film. There’s a lot going on in the film, and
it’s not plot driven at all, much like the show.
But the focus of the film is Dickie Moltisanti, played by Alessandro Nivola, a troubled gangster
who is the father of Christopher Moltistanti. Christopher, by the way, as most already know
by now, narrates the film from beyond the grave. Literally, he tells us via narration
that he’s in hell. But Dickie’s envelopes are a bit light because a black gangster working
for him is having trouble with one of his men. Dickie’s kinda got the hots for his
dad’s new girlfriend, and a few troubling things happen to Dickie in the film which
leads him to conducting a series of visits with an uncle who is in prison. The scenes
between these two kinda remined me of the psychiatry scenes in the Sopranos between
Melfi and Tony, and at one point I was actually wondering whether these conversations were
actually taking place or whether they were in Dickie’s head, but it does appear they
were real. There’s also another Melfi psychiatry-esque scene with Tony and his school counsellor
or something, and his mother is bought up a lot, just like in the show. The theme of
mothers and sons, that Freud thing about desiring your own mom which Tony and Melfi discussed
in their sessions is a major part of this movie.
Anyway, Tony is getting in trouble in school. Johnny Boy and Livia have a temperamental
relationship with each other, Junior is kinda like the Bobby Bacala of the family as he
hasn’t really amounted to much, which is definitely a sentiment I got in The Sopranos
– he always seemed to have a kind of inferiority or Napoleon complex, especially when he became
boss. And that’s expanded upon here. And yeah, that’s about it really, without
giving too much away. Dickie is the star of the show, Tony is a main attracting, Leslie
Odom Jr has an arc, and Ray Liotta makes a guest appearance.
I remember when the film started, the first 10 minutes or so, you were seeing all of these
Sopranos character we already know, only played by younger actors, and it was difficult to
get used to for a while. The film makes it hard for itself too, because you get the guy
playing Silvio doing an exaggerated Silvio impression in his first scene and the actor
playing Paulie being a caricature, and one of Junior’s first lines “sister’s ****!”, one
of his most famous lines in the show, and Paulie is fussing over his nails early on,
and I was just sitting there thinking, “really David Chase? Is this gonna be one of THOSE
kind of movies?” But it seemed like the movie needed to get some Sopranos references
out of its system, and it did settle after about 10 minutes and got into its own stride.
There’s quite a lot of call backs to the show spread through the film – some are
quite good, in fact Junior says the “sister’s ****” line again, only this time I thought
it was great. There were a few times I thought it was unnecessary though, like Hesh for example
is namedropped in a line that didn’t really sound organic, and we see the instance that
was mentioned in the show where Johnny Boy shoots a bullet through Livia’s beehive
hair, which I didn’t think was needed. But going back to what I said about Sil and Paulie,
once you get used to it, you come to terms with the fact that these guys actually did
a good job, but to be honest they aren’t in the film for that long anyway.
Speaking of the acting, it was pretty much superb in the film. Everyone was great – Nivola
was brilliant in the lead role, and did great with the material he was given. We want to
see our favourite characters, but Nivola is there to remind you that this is his film.
Michael Gandolfini was great as a young Tony, as was the kid they got to play a young Tony
when he was even younger. The guy who played Junior was good, the guy who played Artie
Bucco. But the best of the bunch, the real MVP of the film, was Vera Farmiga as Livia
Soprano – she was outstanding in this film, absolutely brilliant in her own right and
as a younger version of Nancy Marchand’s character. Her character had real connective
tissue with the Livia in The Sopranos, you don’t even need to convince your brain that
this is someone playing a young Livia – this IS Livia. And as some have pointed out, though
I don’t really see it, she apparently looks a bit like Carmella, Tony’s wife. That was
not intentional, according to David Chase, but it does add to the film, because, going
back to what I said about Freud, it’s like Tony married his mother. But yeah, she was
perfect. John Bernthal was just kinda John Bernthal, he didn’t add much and to be fair,
the film didn’t really explore his character and his relationship to Tony. He is sent to
prison for much of the film, for an incident that fans will recognise as a reconstruction
of one of the flashbacks in the show. To be honest, Silvio, Paulie and Pussy are not in
the film that much, each less so than the last, but I gotta say, as I did in a post
on my community tab, the guy they got to play Pussy would make a great young Luca Brasi
in a Godfather prequel film, like an adaption of The Family Corleone.
So I think I’ve summed up my thoughts alright – it was a good film, one I’m still processing
but I can say I very much enjoyed it. Its main issue is that it’s not developed enough
– it really could have been a series instead of a single film. At the very least I hope
it gets another one or two movies, I could get used to more Sopranos movies. In a way
it felt like a 2 hour trailer for what could have been a full season of television. Maybe
they should have picked one or two of the plot threads and really fleshed them out instead
of having so many as they did. Most of the issues with the film are the lack of comprehensiveness
and conclusions, like Leslie Odom Jr’s character and Nivola’s. That’s something that can
be explored in a sequel which in turn will improve this film. The movie was good but
it wasn’t enough, it won’t quench the Sopranos fans who’ve been aching for more
content and been rewatching 86 episodes full of nuance and complexity. The film leaves
you wanting more, which I know was the point, as David Chase has alluded to, but, well,
I want more. I feel like I’ve opened the door to the Sopranos household, said a quick
hello and then walked back out. So from here on in we have a spoiler alert,
because I wanted to briefly talk about a few spoilerish things in the film. But I found
it so interesting, that after all the rumours, all of the ‘did the cop kill Dickie’ – which,
I think is still up in the air, as I don’t remember getting a clear shot of the shooter
– but talk of Johnny maybe doing it, Tony maybe being the one who killed Dickie, after
everything, even the red herring in the film with Odom Jr’s character, after all of that
it was actually Junior all along – Jealous Junior and his inferiority complex. That is
a huge revelation, and causes more and more shockwaves in The Sopranos the more I think
about it, and it adds to the already complex relationship between Tony and Junior, the
father son stuff, the guilt about the past, all of it. I wanna see where it leads as well,
because in the film Dickie tried to stay away from Tony to keep him away from the life,
but just before he died agreed to start something with him. So what happens next? I wanna see
a sequel – did Junior then groom Tony, with Tony eventually picking up Dickie’s crew,
which consisted of Silvo and Paulie. By the way, I’m pretty sure it was Paulie’s voice
who said “it’s done” to Junior meaning he was in on Dickie’s death and perhaps
they all lied to Tony, so in the end, even Tony didn’t know who killed Dickie. I don’t
think any of us expected that to be the scenario that was played out.
And in this film, Junior slips and falls down some stairs and gets a back issue, and it’s
implied he can’t perform in bed after this, which must be why he never had any girls in
The Sopranos and must be why he went down on them, because he couldn’t pleasure them
in the normal way, which adds to why his pride was hurt so much when Tony makes the cunnilingus
jokes, sparking Junior to try and kill him, and he more or less kills Dickie in this film
for the same reason. I’m pretty sure I spotted a David Chase
cameo, who it looked like was playing some big time, respected unnamed gangster. You
never really see his face, just his behind, and I think he was supposed to be Ercole DiMeo,
the real boss of the Sopranos family, who is in prison before season 1 begins. Some
might feel it’s pretentious to have him played by Chase, but I guess he is the boss
of The Sopranos, now in universe as well as in real life.
By the way, it was hilarious hearing Junior say that phrase we all know and love, I ain’t
gonna say which one, but I know you know what I’m talking about. I started laughing in
the cinema, I couldn’t believe they actually went there and had him say it, and I still
don’t know whether I liked it or not. Anyway, I think I’ll leave it there, I’d like
to thank my Patreon Tariqari, and my channel members Michael Awotwi and Rikers. Please
subscribe to the channel if you haven’t already done so, and thanks for watching.