Director: Barry Levinson
Starring: Robert De Niro, Debra Messing, Cosmo Jarvis, Kathrine Narducci, Michael Rispoli, Michael Adler, Ed Amatrudo
Certificate: 15
Run Time: 123 mins

The Alto Knights is directed by Barry Levinson and stars Robert De Niro in a dual role as 1950s mob bosses Frank Costello and Vito Genovese. If that Oscar winning director and actor duo isn’t enough for you, then the film’s also written by Nicholas Pileggi, the mastermind behind Martin Scorsese classics Goodfellas and Casino. 

Based on true events, The Alto Knights is told from Costello’s perspective as he looks back on his life. The film opens on a failed assassination attempt of Costello, who was on the verge of a quiet retirement. The hit had been ordered by Genovese, a man consumed by paranoia and distrust, who suspects Costello has an underlying motive and the two are forced to go toe-to-toe.  

The Alto Knights isn’t terrible but the film does little to justify its existence. It begins solidly then slumps before peaking in its final act. Levinson’s proven a fine director in his prime, with films such as Bugsy and Rain Man but he lacks both the energy and cutting cruelty of Scorsese. Pileggi’s screenplay is very novelistic and the film feels like reheated leftovers of a bygone era. The film’s neither good enough to be memorable or bad enough to really get angry at. 

While De Niro’s reliably excellent as the two gangsters, the fact that he plays both roles feels rather pointless. This is certainly the case with Genovese, where De Niro feels like he’s imitating Joe Pesci. There are many scenes where Costello and Genovese converse together, but the film didn’t absorb me because I was instead pondering the mechanics of how the filmmakers shot the scene. Ultimately, The Alto Knights would have been a stronger film with De Niro in a single role. 

The prosthetics are also distracting, particuarly Costello’s outrageously fake nose. That said, I think I stand on the side of prosthetics over de-aging, which really hurt The Irishman a few years back, particularly a scene in which a younger-looking De Niro walks to beat someone up and the body moves like an old man.

There are some other positives though. Cosmo Jarvis steals the show as Vincent Gigante, a rising star in Genovese’s family who’s ordered to carry out the initial hit and the film’s handsomely shot by Dante Spinotti. I particularly liked how Levinson intercuts key scenes with still photography, which gives the film a historical quality. 

It’s a shame The Alto Knights doesn’t deliver as highly as it should, given the pedigree of its cast and crew. While it’s competent enough and quite fun in its third act with a committed Robert De Niro performance, the decision to have the octogenarian in a dual role is a mistake. The Alto Knights probably would have been a lot better if it released a decade or two ago – it suffers under the commanding weight of exemplar efforts in the mafia genre.