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Directed by Alan Taylor and written by David Chase and Lawrence Konner, The Many Saints of Newark is a prequel to the HBO series The Sopranos which ushered in the modern golden era of television. Set in the 1960s and 70s in New Jersey, the film follows gangster Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola) as he navigates mixture of a gang war with his toxic personal life, while acting as a mentor to his nephew Tony Soprano (Michael Gandolfini).
When The Sopranos ended in 2007, many were left at first dissatisfied with the apparently anticlimactic conclusion to one of the most acclaimed TV shows. What those left upset with the ending hadn’t realised was that this show had already made its name being completely unpredictable and subversive in not just doing the same gangster narratives on the small screen. It directly interrogated tropes and stereotypes built from other gangster movies, sometimes providing metatextual breaks with actors from those movies playing characters or even a Martin Scorsese cameo suddenly. The show was a response to a subgenre of film, and creator David Chase has refused any idea of continuing the show past that point.
He did, however, have one idea about where those infamous characters came from and how Tony Soprano became the ruthless mobster we first met in 1999. This idea was also born from Chase’s own experience living in Newark, New Jersey during the 1967 riots, wishing that the fires of racial injustice would burn the whole city down.
Now, we have a gangster film that is a prequel to the gangster show that directly responded to the tropes and conventions of gangster films. And wouldn’t you know it, The Many Saints of Newark is filled with all those expected pitfalls of lesser gangster films, but somehow discovers new ones.
Even at only 120 minutes, it feels too long, like the film was originally two ideas merged into one, being a story set only during 1967 in Newark and the other being Tony Soprano in the 1970s as a teenager defined by his relationship with Dickie. The voiceover provided by the ghostly voice of Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli) is far too reminiscent of that provided in films like GoodFellas and A Bronx Tale, there’s too many side characters to effectively care about, and the film itself doesn’t seek to challenge any established notion of the mob underworld, which is the entire point of The Sopranos.
As for new issues, it comes down to the fact that The Many Saints of Newark never justifies its own existence. Major plot developments, like Dickie killing his own father “Hollywood” Moltisanti (Ray Liotta), are brushed aside so quickly you could say they never happened at all.
Ray Liotta still comes back to play Hollywood’s twin brother Salvatore, who Dickie routinely visits due to a guilty conscience, but their meetings never come to any fruition. The same goes for the entire separate plotline for Leslie Odom Jr. as rival mobster Harold McBrayer, who progressively builds himself up for war against the DiMeo crime family, but the conflict never comes to pass. McBrayer just moves away at the end of the story and he’s never seen again.
The cast is mostly a mixed bag. Alessandro Nivola is able to shine brightest due to him creating this important character in Tony’s story completely from wholecloth, and Michael Gandolfini does an excellent job inhabiting the shadow of his own father, defining this young period for one of the most infamous characters in television history. Corey Stoll and Jon Bernthal do admirable jobs playing their respective characters, unhindered by makeup or prosthetics and feeling enough like Johnny and Junior. The same can’t be said for Vera Farmiga playing Tony’s mother Livia, or Billy Magnussen and John Magaro playing Paulie Walnuts and Silvio Dante, respectively.
Farmiga feels like the confidence-shattering force that Nancy Marchand played perfectly in the show’s first two seasons, but her obvious and awkward hinder any impact her performance might have. Magnussen and Magaro are also playing wildly eccentric characters defined by over-the-top mannerisms, so their attempts at playing that come off as caricatures no better than a mid-tier SNL sketch, complete with more terrible makeup and hairstyling. Newcomer Michela De Rossi does well playing the confident Giuseppina Moltisanti, but is still relegated to the ball-breaking girlfriend doomed to succumb to the evils of crime.
At the end of the day, The Many Saints of Newark should have never been a film. This should have been a six or eight episode miniseries on HBO Max (Showcase over here), still with David Chase writing, Alan Taylor directing, and the same cast in the same roles, but with more time this story could actually work. Each episode traces several important moments in the younger life of Tony Soprano, culminating in the final straw when he made his mind up and chose his eventual path.
This would also give each parallel subplot and storyline more room to grow and develop, leading to more impactful climaxes that would feel more in line with how The Sopranos explored its own character dramas. Instead, we have The Many Saints of Newark: a too long yet still rushed prequel that never delivers on the promise of its potential, squanders a mostly talented cast on weak writing or broad silhouettes of characters, and feels utterly pointless. Forget about it.
Director: Alan Taylor
Writers: David Chase, Lawrence Konner
Starring: Alessandro Nivola, Michael Gandolfini, Leslie Odom Jr.
