The Ruthless

A fine Italian gangster film set in the 80s reminiscent of the cult-classic Scarface. The film focuses on an ambitious rebel gang led by the perfect Riccardo Scamarcio (John Wick 2), showing in detail its rise. The film has a great retro vibe, is fast paced, has intense sex scenes, plenty of suspense and a tense finale, and although it doesn't reach the quality of Scorsese's films, it is still a decent effort. Fans of gangsters should definitely not miss it. 80% (26/05/2019)

As gangster movies go, it’s actually a pretty decent affair. Even though the part of the script that focuses on the gangster’s sex life could be cut short by a few minutes. But then it wouldn’t make much sense given the overall short length of the film. In terms of style, however, the 1980s are captured perfectly, with music, but also with cars. The Italians are definitely able to show the “dolce vita” in their movies. But we’ve still seen many similar films, and many times they were clearly better and more distinctive. Even though Riccardo Scamarcio is just the right type of charismatic guy you wouldn’t want to meet when he has a gun in his hand. (21/05/2020)

This movie is fun thanks to its gangsters, humour and, above all, Riccardo Scamarcio, who seems to have been born for this type of role. But its plot does nothing more than copy every Scorsese and Scarface-style movie without living up to their brilliance, neither in its screenplay nor direction. It also fails to convey the twistedness of its characters’ values with the wonderfully ironic but sufficiently serious self-reflection of the genre classics referred to above. (05/05/2019)