In a way, Original Gangster is an odd coming-of-age story. Castor has to learn to be an adult and cross that threshold into maturity. He does it all with a backdrop of crime, murder, double-crosses, shifting loyalties, and love. His life lessons include debt management, drug distribution, and falling in love (unfortunately with Milo’s young wife). While we’re checking off genre boxes, Milo’s always looking over his shoulder as gang justice ultimately boils down to “a life for a life.”
I liked Original Gangster a lot, but at the same time, I wanted to love it more. On the positive side, there’s no doubt that writer/director Savvas D. Michael’s story falls firmly in the gangster genre. It has all the right elements with haunting images of death, deception, plenty of gunplay, kills out of nowhere, and over-the-top characters. It doesn’t get more over-the-top than Steve Guttenberg’s portrayal of Jean-Baptiste. Great to see the Gutt ham it up a little.
“…got my sympathies from the very start, and I was rooting for him…“
Where the film falls short is that it never transcends the genre or storytelling. Castor’s journey has been told time and time again. Castor is a tough kid, who gets in over his head, trusts the wrong people, falls for the wrong woman, and a lot of people have to die to find any kind of resolution. When a movie cannot tell a transcendent story, it gets lost with all the others like it.
The film’s salvation comes from Alex Mills as Castor. He plays it calm and relaxed. He’s an adult child trying to figure out life and got my sympathies from the very start, and I was rooting for him to the end.
My recommendation is if you’re looking for a new gangster movie, you won’t lose with Original Gangster. It’s a good one to hold on to until the next one comes along.
"…an odd coming-of-age story."
