Gotti is a gritty, well acted, and complex look at the rise and fall of John Gotti. I thought Armand Assante did a terrific job as John Gotti, slick, bombastic, but also nuanced. It's inevitable to compare this to Witness to the Mob. Witness to the Mob was superior from a factual standpoint, covering much more ground
in its' three hour run time than Gotti. Ultimately I'd have to go with Tom Sizemore over Armand Assante for the most accurate depiction of Gotti, as Sizemore mastered Gotti's flare of arrogance and naiveté to an extent that Armand didn't quite get up to. At the same time, William Forsythe as Sammy the Bull was superior than Sammy's portrayal in Witness to the Mob. His personality as cold, calculating, and ambiguous, surely matches Gravano more closely than the positive spin Witness took on him. Overall, Gotti is better from a filmmaking standpoint, with sharper, more realistic dialogue.
August 9, 2011
