Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
After serving prison time for a juvenile offense, Freddo gathers his old buddies Libano and Dandi and embarks on a crime spree that makes the trio the most powerful gangsters in Rome. Libano loves their new status, and seeks to spread their influence throughout the underworld, while the other two pursue more fleshly desires. For decades, their gang perpetrates extravagant crimes, until paranoia threatens to split the friends apart.
Romanzo Criminale is a sprawling, ambitious Italian crime epic loosely based on the real Banda della Magliana that terrorized Rome from the 1970s through the 1990s. Its greatest strength is its plot — the film traces decades of criminal rise and fragmentation with genuine narrative sweep, weaving in political intrigue, personal betrayal, and historical context in a way that feels both grand and grounded. The acting is solid across the board, with the ensemble conveying the shifting loyalties and corruptions of its characters, though no single performance reaches truly memorable heights. Cinematography is competent and atmospheric but not particularly distinctive — it borrows from the neo-noir and Scorsese-influenced crime-epic playbook without pushing the form. Novelty is moderate: the Italian setting, the historical specificity of the Banda della Magliana, and the film's operatic tone give it a regional identity, but it still follows a familiar rise-and-fall gangster template. The ending is appropriately bleak and fatalistic, fitting for the genre, though it doesn't deliver a truly surprising or transcendent final note.