Ian Henson

It is hard to tell a compelling story. Telling a compelling story was not the primary focus of David Chase for The Many Saints of Newark. Instead Chase felt he could pull off the acrobatics of 3 things all in 2 hours. 1.) Give you an overwhelming amount of Sopranos nostalgia by harkening to the original series. 2.) Paint a picture of the New Jersey mob scene in the 60's and 70's. 3.) Deliver a hard-hitting racial social message. The problem is, he did none of these things well. I am genuinely concerned that Chase's brilliance is confined to long-form television series writing. There were more than enough plot points that begged to be expanded upon. There was also plot that was completely missing. Who was the boss? Who were the Capos? Were they all one big crew or several? Was Christopher born via immaculate conception? Who was Joey Diaz playing? Why were Harold and Dickie seemingly close at the beginning of the movie? Isn't Carmella related to Dickie by blood? Why does Ray Liotta sound like he's from Pittsburgh? How do you kill a made guy and just continue living life normally? By trying to please everyone, it appears as if Chase didn't please anyone. The reason I give it 2 stars instead of 1 is because there were plot points delivered that I would love to see pan out properly. Tony and his mother were really the only 2 characters with any noticeable development. You have zero reason to be interested in any of the other characters outside of nostalgia. Chase should've properly set the table for the Jersey mob scene in the 60's with a compelling plot and proper character development. The Sopranos series nostalgia would trickle throughout the story naturally. And if he decided a Sopranos prequel was the optimal backdrop (I would make the argument that it is impossible) to deliver a racial social message in the middle of it, he should've written one worthy of the cause while actually developing the black characters. It isn't the thought that counts when it comes to compelling story telling or racial justice, its the quality of the content. Mr. Chase, please back up and punt or walk away because this movie was a sloppy mess.