THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK

The Sopranos prequel packs so much incident and backstory in its two-hour runtime the picture feels rushed and unfocused.

I only saw a handful episodes of The Sopranos, twenty-odd years ago, so I was able to watch The Many Saints of Newark on its own merits, instead of as a prequel to one of the most lauded TV shows of all time.

Let's start by saying that there definitely are enough intriguing story strands and characters to let the picture stand on its own, helped by the fact that creator David Chase choses the notorious 1967 riots as an arena for the film's first half and the scandal-heavy early seventies for its second half.

The problem is that The Many Saints of Newark packs so much incident and backstory in its two-hour runtime the picture feels rushed and unfocused. The latter becomes the main issue as the film progresses and moves from Alessandro Nivola's attempts to escape his family's shadow to the young Tony Soprano, played with little conviction by James Gandolfini's son.

So despite fine acting by the rest of the cast and an intriguing arena, if the film's only goal is to lead up to a scene that establishes Tony Soprano's first step into darkness, I'm not sure why it had to be made.

release: 2021

director: Alan Taylor

starring: Michael Gandolfini, Alessandro Nivola, Leslie Odom Jr., Jon Bernthal, Ray Liotta