Now if the movie could have been better as a series, I don't know, while it could have fleshed things out more than needed to be, not sure if this story needed 6 or 8+ episodes to tell. Guess they could have done extra storylines to flesh out some secondary characters like Johnny Soprano.
The reason I say it needed to be a series is because nothing flows well and it feels like you need to make a lot of inferences as a Sopranos fan. The time skip is a major problem as well. It probably could have worked as well as two separate movies to be fair.
We have almost nothing set up about Dickie and his father. It's all very very rushed and thrown at you in the car. Was this resentment over his father beating his mother simmering his whole life? Was it just an excuse because he wanted his wife? Did they never get along? Why were they living together? Was his anger and sorrow at the funeral genuine or all an act? I have no idea because I know absolutely nothing about their relationship. Hell I don't hardly know anything about Hollywood Dick in general? If he is so Hollywood, why is he running garages/car parts store? If he has so Hollywood why is he now living in a regular neighborhood in Newark with his son?
Were the riots really necessary? It's a lot of build up for Harold, who in the end is just kind of an antagonist that I felt no connection too. Harold fucking what's her name feels rushed when they just kind of looked at each other a few times and her and Dicky seem to just have a single fight. The relationship with Dickie feels like there is supposed to be kind of a friendship there, but also kind of not? It's a lot of buildup for an antagonist that works in a series but not in a film at all.
And then you have Tony, who appears to be the lynchpin of the movie. And yet, he has absolutely nothing to do with most of the plotlines in this film, and his entire relationship to Dickie is told to us and we are not really shown it. Livia says he only listens to Dickie, and he just kind of goes to him for stuff in the second half. That's it. I didn't feel this deep deep connection between them, especially not enough to have his death be the "big moment" that births *the* Tony Soprano.
It honestly feels like if it wasn't a season of television, this whole movie could have been a trilogy of movies leading to Tony becoming Tony if that was the intention. As it is, it's a rushed mess that's seems like it's going to lead to just a young Tony Soprano film or series, which itself is going to feel rushed. Unlike most of the casuals, I actually wanted a Dickie Moltisanti story and it feels like his entire character was wasted just so we could get straight to Tony again.
