145 out of 168 people found the following review helpful:

Good Film Crap Film !!!

Outlaw from , 25th September, 2007

Firstly I would just like to point out to anyone reading this review and are thinking about renting this film that the whole film is in Italian with English subtitles!!! I hate films with subtitles as i think it takes your mind off the film and concentrating too much on the god damn subtitles, you might aswell just read a book!!! However I dont want to be too one sided with the film, there was loads of action and it was well shot and a good story line to boot, the only down side was like I said it not being overdubbed in english just having subtitles!!! It got tiring about a quarter way through though, i wouldnt watch it again!!! If you dont mind subtitled films then watch it defenatley, if not forget it!!!

Read all highest rated reviews

38 out of 40 people found the following review helpful:

Exactly what a gangster film should look like

A Customer from Warwick, England, 5th January, 2007

Just the right amount of tension, violence, romantic interest, corruption, drama....Excellent pace. Just dark enough. Actors interpret their roles superbly, and the emotion between Freddo and Roberta is discernible and not carried out in a contrived way like in so many Hollywood productions. Well cast male actors - much more realistic and convincing than most gangster films of British production. This is a proper gangster flick! Lock Stock, Layer Cake et al look like East Enders in comparison (especially since there is no outside Serbian/other eastern european gang involved, who doesn't even speak the correct Eastern European language - see Layer cake. Completely undermines any credibility of the film!).

Read all highest rated reviews

25 out of 36 people found the following review helpful:

Skillful, But Familiar

Al80 from , 3rd August, 2007

Although undoubtedly stylish and entertaining for most of its hefty duration, this sprawling Italian crime saga proudly and impudently stakes its claim to being one of the most flagrantly derivative films ever made. It cribs entire plot strands, characters, shots, and even music from innumerable finer, thematically identical movies. Its Scorcese-lite, and proud of it. Despite this, most of the film, somehow, works; the hard-boiled, nonsense-free dialogue couples well with the choppy pace, leaving very little time for boredom to sink in. Characterisation is surprisingly messy and indistinct for an ensemble work, but the actors are all, across the board, absolutely terrific, and this is one classy, seriously proficient production... true to form though, the dank gun-metal blues of the cinematographer's colour scheme are now such an exhausted byword for gritty cinematic authenticity, that the resulting aesthetics only serve to add to the increasingly galling familiarity of the whole enterprise. To curtly list the genre cliches that abound in this picture would easily result in a tome to rival War and Peace, but one image in particular manages to sum this unease up perfectly; early on in the film, a prosaic 1970's pop tune plays on the soundtrack, as the main characters drunkenly, jubilantly dance around a nightclub whilst banknotes fly around in the air behind them. In slow motion. Yeah, really. This is cynical, assembly-line film-making to be sure, but it is also well made, compelling and far from unenjoyable. But for God's sake, don't bottom feed if you aren't already up to speed; go see Marty and Brian DePalma in order to check all this gubbins out first hand.

Read all highest rated reviews

14 out of 15 people found the following review helpful:

*****

A Customer from London sw, 1st June, 2007

just saw this last night not knowing anything about it and was left very impressed but slight annoyed no one had told me about this earlier! The dialog and interpersonal dynamics between the numourous capitivating characters keep the progression of this very long film going right to the inevitable end. It certainly does tick all the boxes as the complex story ebbs between romance, violence, politics and humour. no need from atmospheric cinematic shots, special effects or over the top action here, just a blindly good shakespearian like script. it may not be a perfect 10/10 but i doubt it will be long until this is considered a modern classic.

Read all highest rated reviews

romanzo criminale

Mianski from from London, 4th March, 2010

Pretty predicatable full of stereotypes and overall seemed a very unrealistic account of being a big time Roman gangster in the 70's

Read all recent reviews

Top film

A Customer from London, 11th January, 2010

If you don't mind reading subtitles and have two and a half hour to spare then watch this film. Brilliant, emotional, shocking, not your usual run of the mill gangster film. I was gripped the whole way through.

Read all recent reviews

Unratable

15ROunds from , 7th January, 2010

Film looked great, but from chapter 5 onwards the dvd froze, skipped & pixelated on both my DVD Player and PC - so I didn't give up without a fight! The disc was dirty / overly scratched and I was very disappointed. Stopped watching after chapter 6. I know this isn't a review of the film - but the disc quality affected my ability to watch / enjoy it. I'd rather review the movie...........

Read all recent reviews

A gritty ganster flick

darkhorse1210 from from Up North, 24th December, 2009

My wife and I watched this about 18 months back and subsequently bought the DVD. Being a fan of gangster films I'm often dissapointed by many of Hollywood's tragic attempts. Romanzo Criminale captures the mood of street kids turned ganstaers brilliantly. The characters in the film are developed brilliantly from their impoverished childhoods through their teenage years and then to the real meat on the bone when the gang are in their 20s. Being Italian the film has a real autentic feel to it and you can actually believe what you are seeing actually happened, no matter how dark the film gets. Go and get this one, it's well worth it.

Read all recent reviews