The Many Saints of Newark

⭐ 7.0/10

(Originally written by Tim)

I was cautiously optimistic about this one from the day it was announced. As a prequel to my favourite show of all time, The Sopranos, I was convinced it wasn't going to be as good as the show, but was still excited. Overall, I don't think this was a great movie, and it is so tied to the show that I think it completely fails as a standalone movie. That being said, I am the target audience here, and the callbacks and revelations of the movie made me happy, thus the 7/10 score.

I'll start with the bad. This movie tries to tell 3 stories at once, none of them very successfully. One of them is the story of race in the 60s in Newark. Then there is the story of Dickie Moltisanti, Tony's uncle, as he commits the sins of his father but also lays the groundwork for Tony to follow. The final story is the Tony origin story, which is what most people thought would be the entire movie, but the least amount of time is spent here.

The Sopranos focused on the mafia life, but was more interested in the minutia, the day to day life of these evil people. This movie tries to be more of a mafia movie, and it is just not as interesting except for its ties to characters I love. There are thematic similarities which I loved, and some callbacks that are perfect, but it just felt completely different.

The actors can't escape the shadows of their predecessors either. Every member of the gang is so distinct in their quirks and behaviours that the younger versions of themselves become caricatures. These actors are trying so hard to nail the characters that it might as well be a skit. There are two major exceptions here - Vera Farmiga as Livia Soprano is uncanny and paints a perfect picture of the terrible mother that looms large over the whole series. And Corey Stoll as Junior nails the quirks and but still makes the character his own.

Also worth mentioning that the Tony Soprano actor died, and in this movie his son plays the younger version of that character. A major throughline of the show and the movie is death and bloodlines and generational sin, so this choice has many layers and I thought he was terrific in the role. So much like his dad, who was clearly incredible. Aside from this I thought all the newer characters were the best played, since they didn't have these massive shoes to fill.

There were several amazing scenes that will forever be canonical Sopranos from here on out, and all of these scenes could have been flashbacks in an episode of the show, which is why they were so good. And these are the scenes that would have me say I liked this movie. Aside from that, I can't really recommend it to anyone.