I watched the Sopranos episode by weekly episode as it came out. I’ve rewatched it at least twice since. All of it. I still marvel that Melfi only figured out Tony was a psychopath in the next to last episode. After the first viewing I’d thought it was much earlier. But the joke was on all of us, wasn’t it? That we watched, enthralled, as this evil man committed murders and so many other crimes. It was definitely foreshadowing for our current state of affairs where we have over 700,000 dead and yet we watch as ‘influencers’, themselves vaccinated, question the vaccine to their followers so they can gain profit and influence. The power of the psychopath should never be under-estimated.
Prequels are harder than sequels. Because in a prequel, we know what’s ahead. I enjoyed the Deadwood sequel. It tied up a lot of loose ends, particularly giving the antagonist his come-uppance. But a prequel? It has to reveal some truly insightful and shocking things. Unfortunately, The Many Saints of Newark reveals little we didn’t already know.
In fact, watching actors imitate their future characters was irritating. It must be difficult for an actor to act an actor rather than a character. You could really see them trying to pull it off, which made it very, very uncomfortable to watch as you remember the original.
We saw the relationship between Tony and his mother, which we already knew, sucked. Hell, she tried to have him wacked. We saw baby Christopher scream when teenage Tony wanted to hold him and the wise, old Italian woman prophesizing that babies can see the other side or some other BS; we know Tony kills Christopher later. Even the Christopher voice-over tells us that. Duh.
They tried layering on the race riots and a black power movement but it didn’t go very far, nor was it particularly insightful. Yes, there are criminals of all persuasions.
The only revelation was who killed Dickie Moltisanti and really, who cares? Tony didn’t know in the series, but used the mystery to get Christopher to kill someone else.
I’m from the Bronx and my sisters still have the accent. I’ve been told my accent is sort of Bronx-Southern since I left at 17 and roomed with guys in the military who were from the south. But the Jersey accent these people are using? Gimme a break.
As you can see from the poster for the show the big hook was supposed to be: Who Made Tony Soprano? Well, David Chase did. The reality? He was born from bad genes, had a father who went to prison, a mother who was borderline, and a man who was a murderous psychopath as his mentor.
Oh yeah. There is also a literal TOO DUMB TO LIVE moment when Moltisanti’s goombah (sp?) reveals something to him on the beach. They share a very happy moment and she gets what she wants (a beauty parlor– hey, it’s Jersey) and she then feels compelled to tell him something. It is perhaps, one of the stupidest moments in television history.
The popularity of The Sopranos impelled me to watch this, but that well is now dry. Let’s not try this again, shall we?
I’m devastated this movie was awful. WHY!!! Absolutely unnecessary scenes. I feel like I finished it solely to support gandolfinis son – which was amazing to see – but damnit they ruined the movie for him. The characters of the sopranos had 1/4th of the movie time and the rest was spent on useless scenes. So disappointed that I took to the internet to see if I was alone in this. I never write reviews but my god this was so awful I had to!
Right on you said everything I want to thank u for saving me time it did the show absolutely no justice it was like watching people do imitations. Michael gandolfini was okay though
This movie was horrible. It made no sense even as a sopranos fan. Uncle junior kills sickie because he laughed at him?? Doesn’t add up… who would have carried it out and kept it such a secret. Plus the acting is atrocious.
It was horrible from beginning to end. Galdofinis son was basically lip service for a prequel he served no purpose in a story that went nowhere. The actors portraying the originals were poor choices as well as ray liota playing two parts really? Who else was like wtf is this? Anyway the only connection to the soprano other than them trying to push that this is the sopranos was absolutely nothing. Tried way too hard to be something unrecognizable as a sopranos franchise but that’s the only thing they tell you it’s a sopranos sequel but no matter how hard you look it’s in the name only didnt recongnize a single thing to make me think oh this is the sopranos. It’s like the blues brothers 2000. Remember that one. Yeah I try hard to forget it also
This movie was awful. It had no story at all. I saw it with another fan of the Sopranos. Tony’s Soprano’s character was the same through out the entire movie. The advertisements made no sense at all.
The death of Dickie’s girlfriend was so predictable.
The actors playing the characters seem like they were supposed to be stupid on purpose. I don’t get it. I just don’t. They were like cartoon versions of themselves.
Terrible terrible just terrible, anybody who thought the many saints was good is fooling themselves, worse sequel ever
Watched it about a month ago. Still difficult to recall.
Knowing they were making that for so long and then seeing that. Very difficult
I’ve seen every sopranos episode, multiple times. Finally got around to watching this monstrosity. It was terrible and I’m disappointed that I actually watched the whole thing. The worst of the worst was the whole plot around the black guy…completely unnecessary and just more affirmative action ballot a, and almost as bad….chase wants us to believe junior killed Christopher’s father for laughing at him, but when he’s boss he doesn’t kill Christopher who is a junkie and stealing from him…..come on!!! Do not waste your time, plus young Tony is being portrayed as a retard.
Just got done watching it. I want my 2hrs of life back. Please, if you are a die hard Sopranos fan, skip this film at all costs. It kinda ruins the way you know Tony, Sil, Paulie, and any other character you know. Just stay away and remember the Sopranos that was.