Patser Collection

Matteo Simoni

Nora Gharib

Saïd Boumazoughe

Junes Lazaar

Nabil Mallat

Paloma Aguilera Valdebenito

Gene Bervoets

Axel Daeseleire

Vic de Wachter

Ali B

Werner Kolf

Noureddine Farihi

François Beukelaers

Eric Corton

Aza Declercq

Hef Frans

Jeroen Perceval

Bond Mgebrishvili

Ludwig Hendrickx

Bas Bonhof

Bilall Fallah

Nabil Ben Yadir

Hendrik Verthé

Bram Renders

Adil El Arbi

Kobe van Steenberghe

Robrecht Heyvaert

Arne Thomas

Stijn Verhoeven

Benoît Roland

Thijs van Nuffel

Hannes de Maeyer

Nina Caspari

Thomas Vertongen

Gijs van de Westelaken

Yves Van de Paer

Mathias Sourbron

Chantal van der Horst

Regard Ibrahim

Thomas Jonckheere

Arne Normon

Thomas Desmet

Thriller

Action

Crime

Patser

Column Film

A Team Productions

10.80 Films

Los Morros

Belgium

Netherlands

"Style over substance"

'Gangsta' tells the tale of four friends who are out to make a quick buck. What better way than to deal coke in Antwerp, Belgium, the so-called coke capital of Europe. In doing so the four dealers trigger a war between them, two Amsterdam drug lords and a Colombian cartel.

Adamo (Matteo Simoni), the main character and his three buddies look and behave like gangsters but are far from it. To them their new way of making fast money is a fantasy and that's what directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah want to make you feel. They glorify the whole gangster life and it shines through in the distinctive look of the film. It's a different take on the classic gangster movies but that doesn't mean it's better. While 'Scarface' is being referenced a couple of times the movie has more in common with Michael Bay's 'Pain & Gain'.

It all looks and sounds flashy but there's little underneath that shiny surface. The plot is rather simple and the characters are flat and sometimes downright annoying. The directors pull all sorts of tricks (visual and with the narrative) to blow you away but eventually it's overkill. El Arbi and Fallah have shown with their two previous movies ('Image' and 'Black') that they're capable of making dark gritty movies. I get that they want to show that they have more up their sleeve (the duo wants to break through in the US) but sometimes less is more. Take away half an hour of the runtime and it would have been easier to digest.

Although all the blitz and glam can't hide the shortcomings of the movie it's still quite a fun ride. I can see it doing well among youngsters.

Kudos to Matteo Simoni who really shines as Adamo. Simoni who is known more for his comedy parts in Belgium is quite impressive. Debuting Nora Gharib is a gem and Dutch rapper Ali B is a great addition as the twisted Hassan Kamikaze.