“The Alto Knights,” featuring Robert De Niro, Cosmo Jarvis, Debra Messing, and Catherine Narducci. Let’s dive right in.
During the 1950s Frank Costello and Vito Genovese emerged as rival New York crime bosses who fought for dominance over the city streets. Former best friends Frank Costello and Vito Genovese experience petty jealousies and betrayals that lead to a deadly clash which forever transforms organized crime.
Robert De Niro’s dual role as Vito Genovese and Frank Costello proved to be unwanted. I’m going to be blunt: they should have cast two separate actors. The undeniable presence of De Niro as both characters proved to be extremely distracting. Robert De Niro showed no effort to change his mannerisms and walk for the dual role. This film is basically Robert De Niro acting as himself which stands out as an unfortunate pattern in his newer projects. This distraction took me completely out of the film.
Now, let’s talk about the editing. Oh boy, the editing. The film demonstrated impressive cinematography at certain moments. The funeral home scene included some remarkable wraparound shots that drew my attention. The editing process completely destroyed any highlight in camera work on cinematography. The editing felt erratic and poorly executed. The abrupt cuts combined with random blackouts and the general lack of smooth transitions made it hard to maintain immersion in the story. Whether it was a deliberate stylistic decision to replicate a documentary approach through flashbacks remains unclear but either way I found it ineffective.
Moving on to the writing and dialogue. The story itself is compelling. The script explored a background story that was new information to me. The writing throughout the story and its dialogue did not meet expectations. The dialogue ended up feeling awkward in certain parts which made me lose track of the conversation. The story deserved a stronger script.
The directing came across as lacking throughout the film. The production lacked a unified direction that connected all the elements, which then impacted the story telling.
Now, let’s talk about the performances. Debra Messing delivered a solid performance in her supporting role while Catherine Narducci truly stole the show. She delivered a fantastic performance that pulled me into the story.
And then there’s Cosmo Jarvis. After playing this super buff character on “Shōgun,” he appeared completely different in this role. The transformation was incredible. During certain parts he appeared so bloated that it brought to mind the famous scene from Men in Black. He managed to give a strong performance even though the writing held some constraints.
I’m giving The Alto Knights a 2.5 star rating. The story deserves an additional half star since it presents genuine interest. The execution failed to meet expectations especially due to weak editing and De Niro’s dual role.
