What we thought of The Many Saints of Newark – spoiler free

Jessica Woods

As a longtime Sopranos and James Gandolfini fan, I was looking forward to The Many Saints of Newark. The movie promised to tie up loose ends and tell the tale of how Anthony Soprano and his gang of North Jersey mobsters got their start in the business.

Young Anthony Soprano was played by Gandolfini’s real-life son, Michael. The younger Gandolfini said he studied his father’s role of a North Jersey mob boss in order to nail the elder Gandolfini’s in-character ticks, movements, and accents perfectly. And he delivered. Besides looking the part of a young Tony Soprano, Michael Gandolfini completely nailed the role.

The story, narrated by Christopher Moltisanti was more of a movie about his father, Dickie Moltisanti, and his relationship with Anthony through good and bad.

Casting for The Many Saints of Newark was near flawless, in particular, John Magaro as Silvio, Vera Farmiga as Tony’s mother, Alessandro Nivola as Dickie and Bill Magnussen as Paulie Walnuts.


Constrained to a two-hour theatrical feature, the storyline did the best it could to tell the story of what happened during the forty or so years between the start of the movie and episode one of The Sopranos. It was light on the things that made the Sopranos a hit, suspense, detailed story lines, and character familiarization.

If you’re a Sopranos fan or somebody who might want to watch the series if you never did, it’s a good movie to give you a little bit of the flavor of the series, but you’re going to leave feeling a little shortchanged, wanting more.

Producer David Chase has expressed interest in a sequel, but to date, nothing has been confirmed.

Rating: Story 5/10 Casting 9/10 Overall Experience: 6/10

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