Recently, a trailer for the upcoming film “The Alto Knights” was released. The film has Robert De Niro playing both Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, two rival Italian Americans who head their own crime families. 

You could make the argument that what makes the film unique is that De Niro is playing two different characters, but I’m not too impressed. 

What captured my attention was how nothing felt unique in its plot or setting. It all looks like stuff I’ve seen before in other mob films like “The Godfather” or “The Irishman.” 

Most romance film found on the Hallmark Channel typically follows the same script: a chance encounter between a man and a woman occurs, the woman falls head over heels first with the guy, an event (like a moving away) causes one of them to pull away yet their love forces them to be reunited. 

Not only that, but the posters for these Hallmark films also look similar, including the poses, smiles and backgrounds. 

This is how I feel about mob films as they reiterate the same themes or ideas, but all generally look the same. 

Take “The Godfather” for example. Two of the biggest themes in that film are family and betrayal.  

“The Alto Knights” trailer also implies that both of those themes return, albeit Genovese and Costello aren’t brothers, yet they did grow up together. 

I’ll bet there’s a line of dialogue in the film saying, “He’s like a brother to me.” 

The designs in the trailer also don’t feel that special either. Yes, the costume designs are accurate to the time and style, but all mob films look the same. It gives off the impression that mob films aren’t sure how to innovate anymore, just like the Hallmark Channel can’t implement any unique ideas into their romance movies. 

You could make the argument that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is at fault for the same thing. Their main characters typically face a problem before struggling and learning to overcome it. 

What makes that argument fail is each main character brings something new to the table. Yes, the majority of them are superheroes but none of their powers are exactly the same as another’s leading to unique styles between projects. 

Take the “Guardians of the Galaxy” trilogy and “Moon Knight” series for example. Both utilize action and humor together, but they’re set apart by their powers and unique styles. 

The “Guardians of the Galaxy” films see a ragtag band of space mercenaries learning to become a family and overcome their differences while listening to music from the 80s and 90s along the way. 

Contrarily, “Moon Knight” follows a man with dissociative identity disorder that is the avatar of Egyptian god Khonshu. The action is broken up by his different personalities taking over, making every fight scene unique.  

One argument I will agree with is the posters for the MCU. There are way too many floating head style posters for those films anymore. 

Back to the mob movies, I’ll give “The Alto Knights” trailer credit for providing a close-up shot of spaghetti. That’s a new one. But is that really all there is to offer from these films anymore? 

Maybe they aren’t meant to be films anymore and should rather be experienced, like a video game. 

Except that’s been done before with the “Mafia” trilogy and those also feel like more of the same from themes to locations. 

Luckily, there is a solution: drastic change. 

Drastically changing the setting or themes provides something familiar to retain the pre-existing audience while doing something new to capture the attention of people like me who no longer care about mob films or games. 

There’s a chance this idea could work out with the upcoming game “Mafia: The Old Country” as it is set in the underworld of 1900s Sicily, a drastic change from the urban cities in America we find most mob films and games to be set in. 

Unfortunately, some of the themes from the looks at the game appear to be the same, so there’s no telling how good it’ll be until release. 

All we know for certain is that if a trailer for a mob-related film or game comes out and looks like something you’ve seen before, chances are you already have.