not as good as all the hype

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

A no spoiler review for a film that is based on a true story, has a show and a book. I'm always weary of films that try to tell stories of multiple characters or of ones that span years or decades. This film tries to do both and fails miserably.There's just too much to say and not enough time. There are several problems with this film and it suffers from worst-of-both-worlds syndrome. It has too much story (like TV shows) but not enough time (like film). It has a bigger budget (than TV, $ per minute) but ends up looking like cheap TV shows (amateur production values, pretty boys as actors).The TV show is exactly the opposite. It looks cinematic (even though it's shot on 16mm), the actors are better cast (Libano looks terrifying, the minor gang members look like criminals), there's more time to tell the story (politics, communism, Aldo Moro, fascism, the state, Camorra).Watching the show first, I could barely watch the film. It felt so cheap, it gives the feeling of a 90's MTV music video, both cheesy and dated. The story goes by so fast, like a "previously on Romanzo Criminale" refresher at the beginning of a new season.The show is the story of the gang. The film looks like a trailer by how fast it goes.I rate the show 10/10 to the film's 4/10. The show is a world class series, Golden Age quality. The TV is an easily-forgettable anecdote in the history of Italian cinema.

While reading the other reviews of this film, I was surprised at how many negative responses it got. For one thing, people who complain that it was too long and seemed like a miniseries...the two and a half hour version WAS a miniseries, the cinema version was epic but not that epic. I actually prefer the long version. It is true that if you watch this trying to test your Italian language skills you will be hard put to understand most of it unless you have lived in Rome. I wouldn't have compared this film to the godfather or scarface, it is very much less Hollywood. The feeling of overwhelmed connection between crime and politics, the sense of no way out, the fact that the characters seem not to be particularly penitent, all of this is very accurate, it truly does evoke modern Rome. We are so used to mafia movies, big movies that show a rise to the top, very American Dream style, then the inevitable fall, because the characters are bad and have to be punished. This film is beautiful because it is so far outside of American morality. The characters die horrible deaths not to pay for their crimes, but simply because that is a risk of the line of work they are in. The deaths reflect the characters. Lebanese started a ruthless street gang in a dirty garage, and dies full circle, on the street, no pomp or circumstance. Ice, who always seemed to be scratching at the door of escape and salvation, dies without ever reaching it, on the steps of a church. This is significant, even beautiful, but don't give too much weight to the location. There are over 400 churches in Rome. The odds of being shot in front of one if you are going to get shot in a public place are quite good. I have seen Rome's criminal underbelly firsthand. While it is no longer what it was in the 1970's, it is still a world with no master, no real mafia rule, and a great deal of political influence on its higher levels. This is a beautiful film. While watching it next time, listen to and enjoy the cadence. Romans have a beautiful way of speaking. I also feel like people haven't given quite enough credit to Santamaria's Dandy. He is one of the best young Italian actors around in my opinion, and he plays his insecure, irritating, and sometimes hateful character with such great tenderness and vulnerability.

I expected this film to be a Pulp Fiction spin off or some mediocre crime drama with the usual shootings and token women thrown in. However, the film is excellent primarily because it focuses just as much on the complex relationships between friends and lovers, as well as the workings of the gangs themselves. Freddo and Roberta are one of the few convincing on screen couples, and the film is a great exploration of loyalties. The pace is slower than in most 'heist' type dramas but this works to its advantage. It is visually uncluttered and the music is not owepowering, so it really allows you to contemplate what the film is really about: love, loyalty, friendship. Whoever approaches this as just a film about a gang is missing out on a lot. I wasn't familiar with any of the actors before but they completely convinced me. Someone complained about criminals being too pretty in this film, but I have to say, it is only halfway through that I noticed that Freddo is actually quite attractive, as is Nero, but the film is structured and filmed in such a way that your attention is not immediately drawn to this. Rather you get to know the characters first, and only focus on their physical attributes second.

I read the book some years ago, and was really excited that a movie was going to be made out of it. The plot was just perfect and the characters strong enough to work well on screen. Well the movie is quite disappointing, and not because of the script, which in a way does work (except maybe for a foreign audience who will not catch all the political implications of the movie), but for Michele Placido's poor television style of directing and (mainly) for the choice of (most) the actors. These guys should be the worst criminals Rome had ever seen, people you would not have the guts to see in the eyes, but the actors chosen are all the cool and beautiful teenager idols of Italian cinema, surely good actors, but not in the right place this time. This movie could have been a great opportunity to finally export some good Italian cinema...i'm afraid we'll have to wait much more!