Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Many Saints of Newark’ on HBO Max, a ‘Sopranos’ Spinoff That Fans Will Eat Up Like Fresh Cannoli

New on HBO Max is The Many Saints of Newark, and in case you’ve just awakened from sleeping with the fishes (maybe napping with Big Pussy?), it’s a feature-length spinoff of all-time-greatest-TV-series contender The Sopranos. Not really a spoiler: No, series creator David Chase isn’t going to tell us what happened in the diner when the series finale smash-cut to black (and single-handedly reinvigorated Journey’s career). Rather, Many Saints is a prequel and sort of an origin story, showing us some formative years in the life of eventual Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano. Young Tone is played by Michael Gandolfini, spitting image of his old man, the late James Gandolfini, who originated the character in the original series. That alone may make the movie a must-watch for fans, whether it’s any good or not.

THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Fade in: the cemetery. We hear Michael Imperioli’s voice, narrating as Christopher Moltisanti, and almost certainly feel a little choked up about it, because nostalgia squeezes HARD, doesn’t it? Christo-FUHH (you know you can’t resist saying it that way) introduces us to his father, Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola), palling around with a “little fat kid,” Tony Soprano (William Ludwig), and it’s here that Christopher reveals he’s narrating from the beyond, because he reminds us that Tony murdered him in an episode we saw 14 years ago, which makes us want to rewatch it, but not until we rewatch all the episodes that came before it, and then rewatch all the episodes that came after it. Funny how that happens.

It’s 1967. The Moltisantis and Sopranos lead the Italian mafia in Newark: Dickie and his old man Aldo “Hollywood Dick” Moltisanti (Ray Liotta). Tony’s dad, Johnny Soprano (Jon Bernthal) and his Uncle Junior (Corey Stoll). Key associates Silvio Dante (John Magaro), Paulie Walnuts (Billy Magnussen) and Big Pussy Bonpensiero (Samson Moeakiola). Christopher will be born soon enough. They drive Cadillacs the size of aircraft carriers and run gambling rings and extort the locals and liberate goods from their owners and amalgamate genitalia with their mistresses — and therefore force me to look up the proper spelling of “goomar” — and all that. They hole up in Satriale’s Pork Store and the Atta Boy auto shop, but the Bada Bing ain’t a thing yet.

Aldo returns from Italy with a young new wife, Giuseppina (Michela De Rossi), and Dickie and his wife Joanne (Gabriella Piazza) have to listen to them make hilarious/disturbing sex noises through the wall. Johnny gets pinched on an assault warrant when the cops raid an illegal card game, and ends up doing two-to-five. Tony is a little shit with an “Alfred E. Neuman for President” poster on his wall. He drives his ma, Livia (Vera Farmiga), crazy, and frankly, she’s already neurotic enough; with his pops gone, Dickie steps in as a surrogate father, and they end up being pretty tight. Crucially, Dickie maintains a partnership with Harold McBrayer (Leslie Odom Jr.), who helps keep local Black gangs from messing with Family Business. When local cops pull over and beat a Black cab driver, Newark erupts into violent riots and looting, and does the Soprano/Moltisanti take to the streets with their Black Lives Matter gear? No, they use it as cover for their ongoing criminal shenanigans, and an excuse to maintain their racism.

Christopher returns to fill the gap in a narrative leap: “The ’60s ended and Neil Young gave that speech from the moon.” We finally get to see Young Gandolfini playing the character his dad played, and I guarantee it, you’ll either hit pause or gasp or weep or shit your pants when you get the low angle on the kid gripping a forkful of ziti. Tony wants to be a football player; he’s smart but doesn’t apply himself; we pause/gasp/weep/shit again when we see him talking about his feelings with his guidance counselor. His dad gets out and immediately starts going at it with Livia. Tony watches Key Largo on TV and quotes the Stones; he rings up “uncle” Dickie to buy beer for him and his pals, including Teen Carmela. He kinda idolizes Dickie, which makes sense, because Dickie’s about a dozen pieces of work, and we know who Tony grows up to be: A f—ing mess.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: I’d rate the Sopranos film as equal to Deadwood: The Movie, a little better than El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie and not even in the same league as The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course. (It also very much has that going-home-again gangster-movie feeling we got while watching The Irishman.)

Performance Worth Watching: We’re all on board to watch Michael Gandolfini in Tone Loves Carm, aren’t we? The kid shows true charisma (insert nature vs. nurture debate here), and makes the most of his screen time. His Tony seems like a normal teenager, maybe even a little naive, and it’d be fascinating to watch Son of Gandolfini slowly slide into the moral morass.

Memorable Dialogue: Aldo and Guiseppina get in a violent, screaming fight after she leaves her douchebag in the shower:

Aldo: Does the Venus de Milo have a douchebag?

Giuseppina: She can’t use a douchebag. She’s handicapped.

Sex and Skin: Yes, the goomars see plenty of action here.

Our Take: The Many Saints of Newark is the fascinating evolution of Tony Soprano, and almost as essential is its depiction of the fascinating evolution of Silvio’s hair. Nivola dominates the screen time, because Dickie was Tony before Tony was Tony, so gird your expectations for how much Tony Time you’ll get. A serial That Guy character actor, Nivola shows just enough presence to carry the film, which may inspire criticisms of it being a somewhat rote gangster drama. But he’s a relatively bland presence driving the rig for the supporting characters, all familiar names with younger faces — and therefore proving that the contents of the spooky tree on Dagobah consists of only what you take with you. Which is to say, Sopranos diehards on nostalgia trips will get the most out of it.

And it’s very much a worthwhile nostalgia trip, even when it’s stretching a bit to maintain some modern relevance. Chase — scripting with longtime Sopranos collaborator Lawrence Konner — cuts in the Black experience subplot effectively so the film isn’t content to merely tread familiar ground and stoke our emotions. It’s highly enjoyable to see Liotta folded into the Sopranos mythos as the hilariously belligerent Aldo; he’s an OTT highlight of the first half where Gandolfini brings nuance to the second. Maybe the film is a touch lightweight in comparison to the series’ hefty drama; the series’ signature comedy is intact, accounting for the movie’s most entertaining moments. But most importantly, Many Saints deepens the story of Tony Soprano enough to make it a rich, worthwhile experience.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Enjoy re-binging The Sopranos, everyone.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

Stream The Many Saints of Newark on HBO Max