THE SOPRANOS was a TV show. So is this.
It’s also very familiar.
People get shot, they eat a lot of Italian food, they get loud and swear, and there’s the obligatory turf war. Young Tony Soprano witnesses these events, which we’re supposed to believe is ultimately what led him into the family “business.” And that’s fine except you could do all that in one brief montage or have a narrator quickly walk you through it.
Alan Taylor did a nice job of directing the script by David Chase and Lawrence Konner (who my partner and I rewrote on JEWEL OF THE NILE).
There’s one story turn (I won’t spoil it) that is so ridiculous it takes you out of the movie. Suffice to say a character does something they never would because the writers needed the story to go in a specific direction. Hint: The scene takes place on a beach.
The acting was good. The real stars are Alessandro Nivola and Leslie Odom, Jr. James Gandolfini’s actual son his dad as a teenager. Michael Gandolfini acquitted himself very well. For my money though, Ray Liotta stole the movie.
But here’s the thing, and I know it’s intangible — It just didn’t feel like a SOPRANOS episode. You met a lot of future characters, and Chase’s writing is always first-class, but the rhythm, the situations, and even the dialogue just didn’t live up to the series. The original was very fresh. They had great characters, a real suspense, memorable scenes and moments. This new version feels like GOOD FELLAS meets THE MUPPET BABIES. But again, if you’re a diehard SOPRANOS fan you may get a lot more out of it. Wait. I am a diehard SOPRANOS fan. So why didn’t I love it? I was sure hoping to. Maybe it's because the whole point of the movie (how the environment turned Tony into Tony) is something I and every SOPRANOS fan already knows.
See for yourself. It’s on HBO Max.
from By Ken Levine
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