The Alto Knights

As actor Robert De Niro and director Barry Levinson operate very much within their comfort zone, The Alto Knights feels like a project unearthed from a time capsule.

Despite its Oscar-winning talent on both sides of the camera, however, this old-fashioned mobster epic mostly invites a rewatch of superior entries in their respective filmographies, from Goodfellas to Bugsy.

De Niro is convincing in both of his roles as dueling crime bosses, even if it seems like an unnecessary casting gimmick. And the filmmaking is stylish and immersive, capturing a bygone era — at least for cinematic purposes — through a lens of bittersweet nostalgia.

However, with significantly more talk than action, it plays out like a tedious retread with derivative characters and scenarios that lacks the consistent tension to hold the plot together.

The title stems from the social club in the gritty working-class New York neighborhood where Frank Costello and Vito Genovese (both played by De Niro) grew up practically as brothers before drifting apart and heading up separate gangs.

“Nobody left the neighborhood. It’s where we all felt safe and comfortable,” Costello explains. “We all looked out for each other.”

Until they didn’t, and their mutual rise to power during the 1950s resulted in violence among their henchmen and threats to their unscrupulous livelihoods. As they face court cases and imprisonment, can they find common ground?

The film is best when chronicling the persecution of both men by authorities during a nationwide crackdown on organized crime, and their skill at evading capture in favor of an internal showdown.

De Niro tackles familiar territory as both aging gangsters — Costello with the soft-spoken demeanor and pronounced prosthetic nose, and Genovese as the motormouth loose-cannon adversary. Neither of them is likable, which adds another obstacle to our emotional investment.

Inspired by true events, the screenplay by Nicholas Pileggi (Goodfellas) is heavy on exposition and narration, establishing time and place for a story told primarily through flashback and anecdotes.

Some of the dialogue crackles as the film explores brotherhood, loyalty, vengeance, and dishonor among thieves. Yet despite some intriguing dynamics, the periphery roles feel stereotypical.

As a Mafia origin story filled with hand-wringing and backroom negotiations between “families,” The Alto Knights too often resembles a pale imitation of its genre predecessors.

Rated R, 123 minutes.