This film is not Cruella goes to Jersey. It’s so much better

Sopranos’ prequel movie, The Many Saints Of Newark, has already won rave reviews. Here are a few highlights.

Tony Soprano is back. Fourteen years after the TV mobster retired from screen drama in a cut-toblack finale that frustrated the watching world, and eight years after the actor who played him, James Gandolfini, died of a heart attack in Rome, he’s back. But not like that. He’s played this time by Gandolfini’s 22-year-old son, Michael, in a deeply soulful, sad-eyed turn that fills this so-called origins story, set in the 1960s and 1970s, with crushing levels of authenticity. But it’s not that movie either. It’s not Cruella goes to Jersey. It’s so much better. – The Times

Unfolds as slickly and compellingly as devotees of the television saga will expect, with a great period soundtrack, not to mention the sexism, misogyny, racism, homophobia and extreme violence to which we became rather worryingly inured. It won’t be for everyone, to put it mildly. But for those who relished and cherished The Sopranos, it hits all the right notes. – Daily Mail

Young Tony is portrayed with goosebump-inducing deja vu by Michael Gandolfini, son of the late James Gandolfini, who played the role on TV. Tony’s sleepy-eyed sensitivity, his melancholy, his glowering resentment and dangerous hurt feelings are there in embryo. – The Guardian

It’s not all that necessary to be acquainted with The Sopranos to enjoy its feature-length prequel, The Many Saints Of Newark. What it demands from its audience is only this: an understanding that there is no innocence among the powerful, and that men too often carry on the burdens of their forefathers. – The Independent