Robert De Niro acted in two notable Martin Scorsese films written by Nicholas Pileggi: 1990’s GoodFellas and 1995’s Casino. The pair reunite for 2025’s The Alto Knights, but this time with Barry Levinson as director.

Frank Costello (De Niro) runs the Luciano organized crime operation. In 1957, ambitious underling – and former BFF - Vito Genovese (De Niro again) attempts a hit on Frank.

This doesn’t succeed but it convinces Frank to retire and give up his role. However, the suspicious Vito doesn’t swallow Frank’s claims and ratchets up the violence between the two sides.

Double the De Niro, double the fun? Unfortunately, no.

If someone can explain to me why Knights needed De Niro to play two separate roles, I welcome this information. To my eyes, this choice exists 100 percent as a gimmick.

This seems especially true because of the manner in which De Niro plays the parts. As Frank, we get Standard Bobby D, a performance that will remind viewers of pretty much every other Mob character the actor portrayed over the decades.

On the other hand, De Niro channels his old cinematic partner Joe Pesci as Vito. Via hair and makeup, De Niro looks like Pesci, and with his voice pitched up to nearly Chipmunk levels, he sounds like him too.

Which begs the question: why not just cast Pesci? Perhaps the producers sought the semi-retired actor and he declined so De Niro volunteered.

Whatever the case, the choice to use De Niro as the movie’s two leads just seems silly and perhaps egotistical. Maybe De Niro figured this ambitious double assignment would garner plaudits and Oscar love.

I guess the latter could happen, as we won’t know until early 2026 if the Academy will honor De Niro for his work on Knights. Given that the film received mediocre reviews and flopped at the box office, though, I suspect the answer will come back “nope”.

And that doesn’t seem like a shame, though I can’t really criticize De Niro. While his appearance in two roles seems pointless and he doesn’t elevate the parts, he also doesn’t harm the project.

De Niro couldn’t damage the film too much because it simply lacks spark in other ways. Levinson tries to direct Knights ala Scorsese but this doesn’t work.

Given that Levinson made his own high quality gangster flick via 1992’s Bugsy, it perplexes me that he feels the need to imitate a peer. This seems more than a little desperate, like Levinson forgot how to make a story his own and figured he should “borrow” from someone else.

Pileggi’s disjointed screenplay doesn’t help matters. The story rambles in an awkward manner and doesn’t coalesce in a logical manner as it flips between Frank and Vito.

Ultimately, I can’t claim Knights truly fails as a movie. Even with its flaws, its core narrative – taken from facts – brings enough drama to keep the viewer mildly occupied.

But the disappointment factor remains high. Knights involves too much talent to deliver such a mediocre mobster drama.

The Alto Knights appears in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a solid image.

Sharpness worked fine. While the occasional wider shot betrayed a bit of softness, the majority of the movie seemed accurate and well-defined.

No issues with shimmering or jaggies occurred, and I saw no edge haloes. Source flaws failed to mar the proceedings.

As befit a period piece, much of Knights went with a gold/amber palette, though it brought out some blue/teal at times too. The hues looked well-reproduced given these choices.

Blacks seemed dark and tight, while shadows showed good clarity. This became a solid “B+” presentation.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, I also felt pleased with the Dolby Atmos soundtrack of Knights, as it added impact to the presentation. Most of the sonic power came from street/violent elements, as scenes in those situations used the various channels in a pretty involving manner.

Music also became an active partner, as the movie’s score and songs boosted from all the speakers in an active way. The track felt more ambitious than I expected from this particular tale.

Audio quality satisfied. Speech sounded crisp and distinctive, and music appeared robust and full.

Effects were accurate and dynamic. Low-end response showed good thump and richness. A complementary track, the audio merited a “B+”.

No extras appear on the disc.

Despite some notable talent involved, The Alto Knights lacks verve and becomes a ‘been there, done that’ gangster tale. The gimmicky use of Robert De Niro as both leads just exacerbates the lackluster nature of this mediocre drama. The Blu-ray comes with very good picture and audio but it lacks bonus materials. This winds up as a meh mobster effort.