Shottas (2002)

This is one of my favourite gangster flicks. It follows Biggs, from his childhood in Waterhouse Jamaica, to being an adult in Miami that is deported back to Jamaica, only to return to Miami with is life-long friend Wayne who was once deported back to Jamaica himself and has made an empire there. Paul Campbell, Louie Rankin, Spragga Benz and Kymani Marley all do great jobs with their character. From the moment Biggs witnesses how his long time friend Wayne deals with business in Jamaica, Mr. Chin scene, it is a non-stop shootem' up film that is thoroughly enjoyable if this is your flavourThe previous reviewer obviously doesn't like this genre of film, and each to his own. But this film deserves to be reviewed by a fan of the genre so others with similar tastes get a real picture of what this movie is all about.If you like shootem' up gangster flicks this is a must see!!!!!

This could very well be the worst movie I've ever seen. Everything about it just screams AMATEURS. Seriously, I'm not kidding when I say that me and my friends could probably get together over the course of a couple of weekends and make a better, more intelligent movie than this.The characters are completely flat, and if they weren't flat (which they are), I still don't think the "actors" (like Bob Marley's son or Wyclef Jean) would have the acting chops to portray them as anything interesting.The movie is filled with horrendous inconsistencies. Bob Marley's son (Biggs) will be speaking American English and then suddenly he'll be speaking Jamaican English and go back and forth, like he totally forgot he was supposed to be in character. There's a montage scene early on where they show the guys taking over territory in Miami, and one of the scenes shows Biggs and Wayne getting pulled over and arrested, but the movie just hums along like that never happened (What the hell??). There's a scene at the end where "Mad Max" shoots the final intruder who's trying to kill Biggs, and you see the guy getting shot at least twice, including one in the chest. But 2 seconds later, you see the guy get up and run away and the gunshot wound to the chest has magically disappeared. hahahahahah It would be funny if it weren't so freaking pathetic. The head bodyguard for Bruck Shot Teddy who goes to Biggs's house at the end carries a shotgun that fires like a BB gun, and as soon as he kills Biggs's girl (who proceeds to spit watered-down ketchup out of her mouth as a sign that she's dead), he leaves. I guess he forgot he was supposed to kill Biggs. Or maybe he realized that his BB-gun-pellet-shooting shotgun was very weak so he decided to bolt.I could go on and on. The movie is flat out awful. It makes attempts at the end to try to create some kind of emotional story of two life long brothers and their journey, but it fails miserably and is just laughable in its attempt. This is a movie made and written by a bunch of AMATEURS.Do yourself a favor and avoid this movie, unless you appreciate some good old fashioned unintentional comedy and you're looking for a good laugh, then I might recommend it. Maybe.

I had read much about this film before I actually saw it. It has been circulating around for quite some time and has subsequently gained a cult following. With that in mind I was actually looking forward to seeing this film.This movie could have been good. Instead it squandered any quality on cheap cliché and stereotypes. It comes off as Belly light. Only Ky-Mani Marleys' and Louie Rankins acting is any good. The rest of the cast is your typical b-movie thespian. Everything is very formulaic in this film. On a brighter note the soundtrack is very good. I am sure a lot of people would enjoy this movie. But even for mindless shoot em up entertainment this film falls flat.

Shottas is not the greatest movie made nor is it the worst movie made. It's an honest effort from a no name director thats trying to make his mark. If you didn't know , Shottas was a huge underground bootleg hit before it finally came officially available thanks to Sony in January of this year. Obviously Sony saw it fit to push this underground classic. West Indians will appreciate this movie more than anyone else because it shows a dark but real side of what goes on in the Jamaican underground crime scene. Yes this is probably the darkest film to come out of Jamaica , but at the same time it also is probably the best. If you keep up with Jamaican cinema you should know most of their gangster films. "The harder they come" , "Third world cop" are more than likely number 2 and 3 under Shottas.