Have you ever wondered how Tony Soprano became the mob boss we saw in The Sopranos? Sadly, you won't find a satisfying answer in The Many Saints of Newark, which makes such an attempt.
Jump back to 1967 (68?) Newark, New Jersey, where tension with Blacks are at an all-time high, but also where the Italian mafia is running its business. See how white criminals deal with black criminals, how young Tony grew up among these tensions (and among his family's too), etc.
There was undeniable potential for that movie; after all, The God Father 2 started as a small prequel to what happened to Michael Corleone. But sadly, Woke Hollywood had to intervene in the matter and completely screwed the story.
No, I don't deny that police brutality is a problem and that, yes, they may be skewed against blacks. But the first half of the movie looks like a dramatization about George Floyd when it's supposed to talk about the Italian mafia.
After that part is finally over, we jump to Tony's teenage years and get to see Gandolfini's actual son, Michael, play his father's character. He certainly has potential, but like the first part there is no true thread holding the movie together. The social commentary on racial relations is toned down (a little), but there is no real story that would explain why Tony became who he became.
In short, watch the original HBO series if you want your dose of Sopranos. This excuse of a prequel has no coherent storyline and passes social commentaries when it has no influence whatsoever on the story - were there even black characters in The Sopranos?
Evaluation: 2/5