A Summary Of Alto Knights
The Alto Knights is a crime drama which stars Robert De Niro as rival Mafia bosses Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, whose decades of conflict reach a boiling point in 1957 when an assassination attempt ordered on Frank by Vito goes south and sets into motion the Mafia’s downfall.
Robert De Niro’s Ever-Evolving Career
Over the course of his over 50-year career, Robert De Niro has always been one to take on new challenges, whether that be moving into comedies with the likes of Analyze This and Meet the Parents or taking on his first TV role earlier this year with Netflix’s Zero Day. But while the prospect of a dual role may be previously unexplored territory for him, he’s doing so within familiar confines as he’s no stranger to playing many a gangster, from the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II to several of his collaborations with Martin Scorsese such as Jimmy Conway in Goodfellas, Sam Rothstein in Casino and Frank Sheeran in The Irishman.
His latest, The Alto Knights, which also reteams him with Sleepers and Wag the Dog director Barry Levinson, is a film which has been kicking around Hollywood in development since as far back as the 1970s, with the screenplay being written by Nicholas Pileggi who’s also no stranger to the world of organised crime, having written both Goodfellas and Casino. But it’s ultimately disappointing that despite this impressive pedigree behind it, the final result largely fires blanks with little impact.
Missed Opportunities
Narratively, The Alto Knights does bear some resemblance to Pileggi’s previous mob tales in how it deglamourises a life of crime, and in that regard it does solidly deconstruct its two central mafiosos. It wisely doesn’t paint one side as saintly in comparison to the other, as just because Frank doesn’t engage in the same impulsive and senseless acts of violence as Vito he’s still heavily involved with illegal gambling and will openly lie about his activities in front of a Congressional hearing to maintain the benevolent public front he’s put on. But what the screenplay really struggles to home in on is the most compelling aspect of its true story, that being that Vito and Frank were friends at one point in their younger years before their ideologies put them against each other, something which isn’t explored enough outside of a brief montage
Disjointed Narration and Pacing Issues
The screenplay is riddled with bullet wounds from bizarre structural decisions, such as an opening en media res with the attempted assassination attempt on Frank and then having to spend the first half catching up to that point in 1957, to having him constantly breaking the fourth wall narrating to the audience. They result in a film which feels unfocused and considerably longer than its 2 hour runtime, though it does lock in for the final act when Frank’s gambit sets into motion and Barry Levinson lets his experience in comedies come into play for some darkly farcical setpieces
De Niro’s Dual Role That Falls Flat
Despite the publicity surrounding De Niro’s dual performances as Costello and Genovese, it ends up being more of a hindrance than an asset to the film. Though there are considerable efforts to make the two feel distinct such as differing facial prosthetics and accents, the decision comes across as overly indulgent, be it thanks to Frank’s overbearing laborious narration or Vito’s cartoonish voice which sounds like De Niro attempting to do an impression of his semi-regular co-star Joe Pesci. There is some fun to be had in watching him essentially reenact the dinner scene of Heat opposite himself, but these sorts of moments are few and far between due to the limited screen time the two characters have together.
The supporting cast meanwhile is a mixed bag, as while there is great work to be found from The Sopranos’ Kathrine Narducci and Shogun’s Cosmo Jarvis who’s almost unrecognisable as Vito’s protégé Vincent Gigante, Debra Messing’s casting as Frank’s wife Bobbie doesn’t work at all as she fails to convincingly deliver any of the dialogue and has no romantic chemistry with De Niro.
The Alto Knights – Direction And Conclusion
Levinson’s direction has a sense of grandeur befitting for the end of an era the film is depicting and his command over the craft is impressive at such a late stage in his career, the period detail feels authentic and the outbursts of violence are blindsiding even if they pale in comparison to films such as Goodfellas and aren’t exactly boundary pushing for a 15 rating, but the production is let down by the subpar editing which constantly holds on shots for longer than necessary and overuses freeze frames and fade to blacks.
Though The Alto Knights does have some novelty and comfort in seeing Robert De Niro and other veterans of true crime biopics return to gangster cinema with a new twist, that isn’t quite enough to elevate a film which thanks to its inability to bring out the best of its story, bizarre acting decisions and inconsistent technical aspects, comes across as the genre’s dying gasp rather than its respectful funeral.
This The Alto Knights review was created by Joe Warne, a member of the Sedgemoor FM team since 2017. Joe specialises in providing weekly reviews of the latest film releases at 6.30pm each Monday evening as part of the Sedgemoor Life show.