Barry Levinson’s The Alto Knights, starring Robert De Niro as dual mobster extraordinaire Frank Costello and Vito Genovese, has all the makings of a great gangster movie. However, despite its promising premise, the film relies too heavily on exposition, lacks specificity, and stumbles in its attempts to balance caricature with traditional drama.
The story centers around De Niro’s dual performance as warring crime bosses, but ultimately fails to deliver emotional investment due to a lack of depth and character development. The film’s reliance on narration from an older Costello also serves as both a strength and a crutch, making it feel alive at times, but also relying too heavily on exposition.
De Niro delivers a naturalistic performance as Costello, but his portrayal of Genovese feels more like an impression of Joe Pesci. The film’s visual approach is cartoonish, with De Niro’s character bearing a resemblance to archetypes from previous films. The supporting cast adds color to the movie, but even their efforts can’t save it from its overall lack of direction.
One standout sequence features Genovese and Costello sharing an emotional connection, but even this scene feels dialogue-heavy and fails to deliver real depth and tension. Overall, The Alto Knights relies too heavily on De Niro’s talent to carry the film, making it a messy mob tale that fails to do anything new with familiar gangster movie tropes.
Source: https://www.ign.com/articles/the-alto-knights-review-robert-de-niro