Name: The Alto Knights (2025) - Movie Review
Item: The Alto Knights
Author: @erikah

This is my first post in this community I think, so hello Movies & TV Shows addicts, nice to meet you here :)

Today I'm going to share my thoughts about a movie I watched last week. The reason this movie got on my radar was because scrolling through Netflix's offer, I saw it was labeled as leaving soon. Unlike others, this list of "leaving soon" for me is more important than new entries and I am always making sure to check the movies and series that are going to be removed, to not miss any good ones.

The movie is called The Alto Knights and has a very well known person as the lead actor, none other than Robert de Niro. I hope I don't have to introduce him to you.

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Two of New York City's most notorious crime bosses vie for control of the city's streets. Once best friends, petty jealousies and a series of betrayals set them on a deadly collision course.

The movie is based on a true story and the particularity of it is that Robert de Niro is playing both leading roles. This is not unprecedented, have been other cases, but as I understand, it was the first for him and as a legends walking towards the end of his career, I'm glad he had the chance to tick this box.

Lucky me, I had no idea what I'm getting into, just as I do with exhibitions, the only thing I knew was that Robert de Niro is starring and that the movie is about the Italian mob in the US in the '50s.

After a few minutes, I got some déjà vu feeling and the movie reminded me of A Bronx Tale, a brilliant one if you like this genre and Robert de Niro. The difference between the two roles is that in A Bronx Tale, de Niro was on the other side, playing the father of a kid mixed up with the Italian mob. There's a lot to learn from that movie, but let's get back to The Alto Knights.

As I said, I knew nothing about the movie, but started to have my suspicion that I see the same actor playing both roles after a few minutes, after which the obvious move was to see what they did to get two different looking people. I must admit, they did a great job and so did de Niro as it's mot easy to be two different persons in the same time.

Being based on a true story, the screen writers had to follow the original story, which means they had little room to maneuver. As someone knowing nothing of the original story, my expectations were low, I only enjoyed what I was presented. The movie was good, de Niro level I'd say, but still, it was a bit flat, but it's still a good way to learn about the two main characters. The language was brilliant, every single actor did their part to make you feel like you're living among the Italian mobsters in the US. Costumes were also perfect.

All in all I'd rate it as 8/10.

If you like Robert de Niro, mob life, in the US and the life in the '50s in the United States in general, you'll like this movie for sure. Basically this is a piece of American history. I'm not an US citizen, so I just laid back and enjoyed what I was watching and that's the best you can do. Don't read anything before you watch the movie (except my post of course 😆), don't have any expectations, then you can enjoy the movie.

If you're a newbie, you may want to check out these guides: