Gotti (2018) * * 1/2

Directed by:  Kevin Connolly

Starring: John Travolta, Kelly Preston, Stacy Keach, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Spencer Lofranco

Yes,  Gotti isn't Goodfellas.   But then, how many films are?    Gotti isn't interested in depth or insight into the mob world or John Gotti himself.    It is more superficial and paints in broader strokes with its characters.    But, even without any real depth, Gotti wasn't boring.    It moved along reasonably well, anchored by a John Travolta performance in which he is clearly enjoying himself playing "The Teflon Don", although we may have to retire using The Animals' House of the Rising Sun on mob movie soundtracks from now on. 

Travolta doesn't look as much like the feared mob boss as Armand Assante did in a late 90's TV movie, but he hits all the notes even with some of the below par dialogue he has to shoulder.    And if think Gotti was tough, his wife Victoria (played by Travolta's real life wife Kelly Preston) maybe even more fearsome in some of her scenes.    When she gives her husband the business, I was reminded of Al Pacino telling Talia Shire in The Godfather Part III: "They should fear you."   

Gotti chronicles its subject's rise to power in the Gambino crime family.   John is a ruthless foot soldier who answers to a boss he can't stand and doesn't respect, and soon has him whacked to assume control of the family in 1985.    Gotti became known as The Teflon Don because he was able to beat three federal cases against him until the fourth one resulted in conviction in 1992.    His namesake son (Lofranco) assumes control, but then he is awash in charges and trial upon trial.    The film begins with a face-to-face meeting between John Jr. and the dying John Sr. in prison.   John Jr. is debating possibly taking a plea deal because he doesn't want to go through any more trials.   The old man, bald and stricken with terminal cancer, nearly blows his stack and tells his son all about not backing down no matter what the cost.    Junior could've said to his dad: "A lot of good it did you," but this isn't that type of movie.

Gotti loves its protagonist.   So much so that the archived footage of him and his funeral includes man on the street interviews with people who regarding Gotti with hero worship.    Gotti may have been a murderer and racketeer, but he did so with a twisted sense of honor and adherence to a personal code.    He smacks an underling around for hiding his head when walking into a courtroom.   If you're going to court, hold your head up high and don't hide, says John, who becomes a media darling and rock star despite being the head of the largest crime family in America.

What is Gotti exactly?    Its milieu is the mob, but it doesn't delve into it much past cliches you've seen from other mob movies.    Do we learn what makes Gotti tick?    Not really, except on a basic level, but even with a flashy Travolta performance we don't get to know him in an intimate way.    Gotti touches the bases and sees much, but doesn't quite see through.