Kevin Connolly
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Filmography
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Connections, in both directions
At times “Gotti” takes on the feel of a low-budget “Goodfellas,” but the camerawork is at best competent, the editing is choppy, and the dialogue doesn’t come close to having the sting or the buzz or the darkly humorous touches of a Scorsese gangster film.
Gotti attempts to lionize the life and times of famed New York mafia don John Gotti, but succeeds only in proving just how miraculous films like The Godfather and Goodfellas really are by offering a blindingly pale imitation.
A major criticism towards mob films – in which the likes of The Godfather and Goodfellas reside – is that they glorify the criminals they portray.
At least when people misread Scarface or Goodfellas as a hero’s journey we can plausibly blame the audience; in Gotti there’s no other way to read it.
It’s pure Oscar bait, with a director who realty wants his film to be “Goodfellas,” and a leading star who is so completely out of his lane it’s kind of sad to watch.
Essentially it is all one big stereotype, without the personal touch of Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas” or the intense storytelling of “Scarface.”
Of course, Gotti’s crimes catch up with him, but his fall, when it comes, feels weirdly anti-dramatic, as does the way he copes with brother Angelo Ruggiero (Pruitt Taylor Vince) making an unsanctioned hit — no comparison to the infamous Fredo fishing scene of “The Godfather: Part II.”
But if we lived by those high-minded standards we wouldn’t have movies like Bonnie and Clyde , Goodfellas , and Donnie Brasco .
That once-great genre has turned into a mob torture method in recent years: John Travolta in “Gotti,” Tom Hardy in “Capone,” the entirety of “The Kitchen.”
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Directed by George Lucas
influenced Gotti (2018)
Plot
I’m glad this Revenge of the Sith plot point is being explored again.