Ryan Almeida

Wish they'd allow .5 stars cause this was middle of the road for me. I tried to temper my expectations with it being a prequel to one of the greatest series ever made. I thought that Michael Gandolfini was good portraying a young Tony. I wanted to know more though as the movie finished in terms of how a high school boy grows up to become a mob boss. We were left with young Tony still in high school and not really knowing the evolution of his character. Dickie Moltisanti was great. He really embodied the ruthless tactics that we expect to see based on how things got handled in The Sopranos. It was also interesting seeing where Chris came from and ultimately, we got to see how his father died. Ultimately, these two characters are really the only ones that did anything for me. I feel like they could've cast someone way better than Ray Liotta for both parts he played. I mean, the guy didn't even try to have a New Jersey Italian accent for his characters. Thought he was pretty horrible. Leslie Odom wasn't very believable as NJ mobster either. Gabriella was good and she brought alot of passion to her role but much of her on screen time didn't do much for me. Would love to see something tied to The Soprano's series more closely to really show how Tony evolves from a high school kid to a mob boss.