Romanzo Criminale Reviews

Good Film Crap Film !!!

Firstly I would just like to point out to anyone reading this review and are thinking about renting this film that the whole film is in Italian with English subtitles!!! I hate films with subtitles as i think it takes your mind off the film and concentrating too much on the god damn subtitles, you might aswell just read a book!!! However I dont want to be too one sided with the film, there was loads of action and it was well shot and a good story line to boot, the only down side was like I said it not being overdubbed in english just having subtitles!!! It got tiring about a quarter way through though, i wouldnt watch it again!!! If you dont mind subtitled films then watch it defenatley, if not forget it!!!

Exactly what a gangster film should look like

Just the right amount of tension, violence, romantic interest, corruption, drama....Excellent pace. Just dark enough. Actors interpret their roles superbly, and the emotion between Freddo and Roberta is discernible and not carried out in a contrived way like in so many Hollywood productions. Well cast male actors - much more realistic and convincing than most gangster films of British production.

This is a proper gangster flick! Lock Stock, Layer Cake et al look like East Enders in comparison (especially since there is no outside Serbian/other eastern european gang involved, who doesn't even speak the correct Eastern European language - see Layer cake. Completely undermines any credibility of the film!).

[Highly rated reviewer]

Skillful, But Familiar

Although undoubtedly stylish and entertaining for most of its hefty duration, this sprawling Italian crime saga proudly and impudently stakes its claim to being one of the most flagrantly derivative films ever made. It cribs entire plot strands, characters, shots, and even music from innumerable finer, thematically identical movies. Its Scorcese-lite, and proud of it. Despite this, most of the film, somehow, works; the hard-boiled, nonsense-free dialogue couples well with the choppy pace, leaving very little time for boredom to sink in. Characterisation is surprisingly messy and indistinct for an ensemble work, but the actors are all, across the board, absolutely terrific, and this is one classy, seriously proficient production... true to form though, the dank gun-metal blues of the cinematographer's colour scheme are now such an exhausted byword for gritty cinematic authenticity, that the resulting aesthetics only serve to add to the increasingly galling familiarity of the whole enterprise. To curtly list the genre cliches that abound in this picture would easily result in a tome to rival War and Peace, but one image in particular manages to sum this unease up perfectly; early on in the film, a prosaic 1970's pop tune plays on the soundtrack, as the main characters drunkenly, jubilantly dance around a nightclub whilst banknotes fly around in the air behind them. In slow motion. Yeah, really. This is cynical, assembly-line film-making to be sure, but it is also well made, compelling and far from unenjoyable. But for God's sake, don't bottom feed if you aren't already up to speed; go see Marty and Brian DePalma in order to check all this gubbins out first hand.

*****

just saw this last night not knowing anything about it and was left very impressed but slight annoyed no one had told me about this earlier!

The dialog and interpersonal dynamics between the numourous capitivating characters keep the progression of this very long film going right to the inevitable end. It certainly does tick all the boxes as the complex story ebbs between romance, violence, politics and humour. no need from atmospheric cinematic shots, special effects or over the top action here, just a blindly good shakespearian like script. it may not be a perfect 10/10 but i doubt it will be long until this is considered a modern classic.

Below average

Subtitles, poor beginning, develops towards the end. Rent something else.

Excellent thriller

very stylish Italian gangster thriller.

A good tale with its roots in current dark

Italian politics and mafia skullduggery.

Pacy

Pacy and racy. Brutal but great story. Really enjoyed these couple of hours and kept trying to guess the ending but failed. Not too heavy on the dialogue so subtitles were not a problem.

rubbish

bland violent trash, no connection with the charaters because there is no devlopment of the individuals.

[Highly rated reviewer]

i didn't want to like this film..

but i did. The first scene was particularly well shot and it was great how the stories revolved around those moments. Really it was just one big story, but split into three (which didn't quite work)

This is giving away a slight spoiler, but the film pans out as if there are three different stories/chapters based upon the three main members of the gang, Lebanese (?), Ice and Dandy. The problem is that it just really is in chronological order and splitting up the film in that way just makes it seem messy and confusing. If they were to look at the various gang members perspectives in turn, they should have overlapped the key events from the perspectives of the different members.

There was something a bit like a cross between the street hoodlum on the make of Goodfellas and the established close-knit family of the Godfather (part 2). This isn't the best gangster film you will see but it is worth watching. I think the best bit is the tributes to old 1970's style gangster films from Italy e.g. Milano Calibre 9.

Also, a great nifty little soundtrack. Some people will probably say the film is a little too snazzy for its own good. However, you can't fault a Director/Producer for trying to make their own film unique. However, it's slightly over-long and that's not counting the deleted scenes.

In my honest opinion, this film should have just been cut in half (to the point where the second story starts) and a second film from the second and third stories to be released instead. The fact this film just tries too much means it will always get a lower rating than it should.

[Highly rated reviewer]

good

a subtitle film of good acting and really enjoyed the story line and script.great