Review of The Many Saints of Newark

I think I got through three seasons of 'The Sopranos' and then lapsed because additional seasons weren't yet available, so it's been a long time. This film felt too far removed from the series and didn't hold my interest in the same way, even as a stand-alone gangster flick. I recognized a lot of the character names from the series, but somehow they felt disconnected from their future counterparts. The idea here being how the young Tony Soprano (Michael Gandolfini) might have earned his stripes growing up in a crime family, but even that didn't come to fruition in any meaningful way. Most of the story centered on Tony's uncle, Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola) and how he took up with his father's (Ray Liotta) mistress (Michela De Rossi) after killing the old man. He later deep sixes Giuseppina over her infidelity, and you have to give the gangster credit for not even the slightest leak about his involvement in those two murders. Through it all, Tony Soprano stands outside the Mafia circle, observing, but giving no hint that at some point in the future, he would be in complete command of all these up and coming hoods. Ray Liotta deserves some credit for a dual role as Richard 'Dick' Moltisanti and Richard's brother Salvatore 'Sally' Moltisanti, non-plussed by a long prison sentence and barely tolerating his nephew's visits. I'd say whether or not you were a fan of the original 'Sopranos', you can afford a pass on this one as it bears only a peripheral resemblance to it, and minimally passes muster as a stand-alone gangster movie.