Shottas

Plot synopsis:
The film tells the story of two young men, Biggs (Errol) (Ky-Mani Marley) and Wayne (Spragga Benz), who grow up together in the tough and dangerous streets of (Waterhouse) Kingston. They rob a soda truck and shoot the truck driver while they are still children.
The robbery money is used to purchase visas to go the United States, where they continue their criminal activities, hustling on the streets of Miami. Twenty years later, Biggs is then deported to Jamaica where Wayne and Mad Max (Paul Campbell), also deported, have continued their surge in crime, they begin to extort money from business people. After facing problems with the police and politicians, the two head back to Miami alongside Mad Max. Upon returning, they are informed that Miami has a new king, Teddy Bruck Shut (Louie Rankin). The three pay Teddy a visit to extort him. They extort, beat, and murder their way to the top of the Miami underworld before their dream ends in a brazen shoot out, during which Teddy's thugs kill Wayne and shoot Max. Biggs almost gets shot as he comforts Wayne at his deathbed, but Max shoots the assailant before it happens. After taking Max to the hospital, Biggs goes to Teddy's house and murders him, his bodyguard and his girlfriend. Biggs then takes all the money and gets on a boat.

Tags: violence

Review:
This movie will probably be difficult to find, but it's worth it!Cess Silvera does a good job directing.
There aren't many movies (actually I don't know of any) that show the life of a shotta/gangster on the streets of Jamaica.
All the songs suit the scene their placed in.Some people thought that the acting wasn't good.
The stand outs were Ky-Mani Marley and Paul Campbell.Overall I thought it was a cool and enjoyable movie.
A good gangster film.
If you like shoot em ups then this will appeal to you and to be real you shouldnt be watching if you don't i supppose thats why it is called shottas.
They go to America and ive a good life for a while until all the bad deeds in their past consume them.On the whole the film is very entertaining and to some degree real( however the last time i was in kingston i saw a father beat hs son for playing guns) it highlights not only the poorness of Jamaican people but also the political entities that keep them poor and how these entities use the so called bad men of yard to put them in power.Kymani and Spragga's acting is a very good effort and if the opportunity arises for them to continue they will no doubt become very good at it, i am not too sure who wrote the dialouge but it is very real and it shows "wayne" to have a wicked sense of humour.Oh and watch out for Max and the sick mentality he has which is another way of projecting the futility and destruction caused by the greed to be the richest and baddest man..
A bit uneven, Shottas suffers from low quality transfers that just add to the film's problems.
Technical problems aside: the meaningful dialogue is quite slim- character development seems aimed at an increase in robberies, the direction is lop-sided and meandering, never really wanting to show you much more than hot chicks and nice whips(would have made for a nice extended music video).
Amazingly good tale of shotta (gangsta) life.
Shottas tells the story of Biggs & Wayne.
Both poverty stricken Jamaican youths who want the "shotta" (jamaican for gangster) lifestyle.
If you want to see a gritty, violent, & entertaining tale, watch Shottas..
this by far is One of the realest movies from Jamaica to hit the streets internationally since Rockers and Harder they Come...Cess Silvera Has by far Made one of the Greatest Jamaican Movies of Modern time...The Official New Release is So Crisp and Clear.Beats the Bootleg that I've had since 04...Lookin forward to Shottas 2...The Revised Soundtrack that Stephen Marley did Far surpasses the Wack Wyclef Soundtrack from the bootleg.
Ky-Mani and Spragga Benz are Perfect for the roles they portray, Along with the rest of the carefully hand picked cast of the film.
Some scenes are filmed like soap-opera but in general the movie avoids all the clichés from the Hollywood films.
Instead in Shottas shows you exactly how gangsters are created.
Some of the gangsters look like if they were taken from the real shanty-towns of Kingston.
Described on the cover as the 'wickedest bloodclot gunshot movie ever!', Shottas proceeds to live up to those expectations.
STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning Biggs (Kymani Marley) and Wayne (Spragga Benz) grew up together on the mean streets of Kingston, Jamaica, and build up a huge drug dealing network that extends from their home town to the streets of Washington and Miami.
The acting wasn't very good and it never showed any build up of any of the characters rise to power.
Shottas is a good-ass movie.It's meant for people who like foreign and action movies.People who made bad comments on this movie and the director are just ignorant and have no respect for other people's culture.You wouldn't like if we talked about your movies and your culture like that.Everyone is just used to all these Hollywood actors and stupid movies with these "big stars".Cess Silvera is a good director and the actors are cool and talented.How dare u insult some of Jamaica's biggest star.Don't let me get started about the comments on the actors,How dare they insult Bob Marley's son.Shame on you ignorant people.Shottas is one of the best movies I ever seen.Big up Jamaica.
Spragga Benz is great in his first true role as a Jamaican drug dealer/gunman...Lots of familiar faces were seen in this from Wyclef to Lennox Lewis down to Tyson Beckford(Biker Boyz)...
Ky-Mani Marley is a natural actor, and was the kind of "bad guy" you wanted to live.
That's a little thing compared to the overall work on the film.Good job!!!.
Good music & T/A, alright acting and non-developed plot..
Classics like the harder they come or say good fellas,scarface or godfather had feeling, ,action, violence and a story.
Good music & T/A , acting wasn't terrible but overall under-developed plot.Do yourself a favor and skip this one..
I also own the grainy version, but this is now available at local video rental stores and retailers, which means they have cleared it up and fixed any problems the movie had before.
Shottas AKA Belly Up. I had read much about this film before I actually saw it.
With that in mind I was actually looking forward to seeing this film.This movie could have been good.
Only Ky-Mani Marleys' and Louie Rankins acting is any good.
I am sure a lot of people would enjoy this movie.
Spragga Benz is tasty as Wayne, Biggs' best friend.
Cess Silvera drew me into his characters and I found myself rooting for Biggs and Wayne, despite the fact that they were murdering criminals.
I'm having trouble identifying the worst part of the movie, so I guess I'd just go in random order: The quality of the film itself is exceedingly low.
Good film, a shame it wasn't completed.
It will be hard to find a "good quality" of this movie, because it was never officially released.
Nonetheless, I think it is a good movie and does indeed have a story.
Perhaps it is over some people's head, and therefore they feel there is no storyline to the movie.Decent script, editing, a great soundtrack, and authentic patois adds to this film's excellence.
Some of the character development was even better than some Hollywood films.
Witnessed in this film are the themes of friendship and loyalty mixed with greed, and the role of violence and drugs in modern day urban society (Jamaica (Kingston?) and Miami).
I originally found out about this movie while doing research on gangster films from the 90's.
Shottas is a graphically violent handgun oriented gangster film dealing with ties between the Jamaican Mafia and Miami street life.
While there are many violent gun toting action scenes the film really comes to shine during a robbery gone wrong at a Jamaican nightclub.
As a violent rough chino gangster movie Shottas truly excels.
There are few films that can deal with dual mafia environments and story lines as entertaining and brutally as Shottas has accomplished.
must see Jamaican gangster movie.
wow what can i say about this movie.IT IS A MUST SEE MOVIE.i came across this rare movie about six years ago.the story line is quite good a lot better than i expected.the acting was good and it has a great sound track.the only thing is the Jamaican accent is really heavy,you have to listen very carefully or you won't enjoy this movie.it pays to watch it more than once to get how powerful this movie really is.the thing i liked about this movie was the feeling of how real it felt.its only a low budget movie so its not a well known Hollywood blockbuster.directed by cess silvera it follows the lives of two young male characters growing up in the ghettos of kingston jamaica.they decide to go to America and the story unfolds from there.over all i gave this movie 8 out of 10,DON'T MISS IT IF YOU CAN GET IT MAN..
Shottas is the movie for you my friend, it's a non-stop 95 minutes of pure tacos mixed with burritos and some good Chinese stuff that you'll find in you toilet.
Worse gangster movie never made !
Finally the good thing I learn in this movie is that my friend who propose me this movie is a stupid hollow sh*t-head.
You'll learn in this movie who black have no sense for business and you will discover that it is not with beautiful cars that your film will be good.
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..
Oddly, it was slightly entertaining for a bad movie.THE QUESTIONABLE - Lots of things.THE BAD - Where do I begin?
Technical, cinematography, story, sound, character, plot, ending, the list goes on and on.WHY do I give this movie a 3/10 IMDb style or a very low 1 and a half out of 4 stars?
Lots of things a miss with this movie, do yourself a favor and avoid "Shottas"..
The most impressive thing about "Shottas" is the nerve the promoters of this tacky cheapo had, when comparing it to the likes of "City of God," and "Scarface." Technically speaking, "Shottas" is fine, but the total lack of character development destroys this one.
A bunch of unsympathetic Jamaican murderers run around Jamaica shooting other drug dealers.
Freshman writer & director Cess Silvera's "Shottas" is a shallow, cynical, but competently lensed, R-rated, blood-splattered Jamaican gangster saga in the tradition of William Wellman's "The Public Enemy" (1931) as well as Brian DePalma's "Scarface" (1983) with noisy gunfights and vile profanity galore.
Indeed, Silvera directs "Shottas" as if it were a music video with liberal use of jump cuts, aerial visuals, slow-motion, varying shutter speeds, and amped up music.
Authentic locales in both Jamaica and Miami enhances to the film's sense of realism.
Young Turks that groove on the gangster gunfights; promiscuous, half-clad babes sporting fake and/or genuine boobs, and cool cars will relish this good looking movie.
The next day Wayne and Biggs (J.R. Silvera) shoot and rob the delivery man.
Actually, Biggs is from America, but his mother sent him to live in Jamaica since he behaved like such a bad boy.
Twenty years later, when we see Biggs (Bob Marley's son, Ky-Mani Marley of "Haven") again, U.S. authorities in Miami are deporting him back to Jamaica.
Biggs' childhood pal Wayne (Spragga Benz) and his right-hand, insane, trigger-happy gunman Mad Max (Paul Campbell of "Third World Cop") meet him at the airport.
One good example is a street gunfight between the police in their cars and gangsters on their bikes.
The film opens with our protagonists getting into a shoot-out when rival gangsters invade their house in a surprise attack and blow them full of holes, including one of their shop until you drop girlfriends.
Silvera shows himself accomplished enough at altering the chronology of the story for maximum dramatic impact because he shifts "Shottas" back and forth through time.
Wayne and Biggs shake down the local drug lords for a piece of their action.
As our protagonists warn the Miami drug dealers, "Playtime is over."Incidentally, the title "Shottas" means 'gangstas' and/or 'shot-callers.' There is nothing new about this action thriller except the novelty of its Caribbean island locale.
Silvera provides two commentary tracks to the Sony Pictures DVD release of "Shottas" and both tracks furnish loads of information about the movie.
The final shoot-out at Wayne's house has earned Silvera some criticism.
Although the skin-deep characters never change and the action is predictable, this well-paced shoot'em up surpasses a lot of loose cannon indie gangster thrillers.
Idiots that want to imitate Biggs and Wayne should remember that most of these characters live by the gun and die by the gun..
I mean, music, cars, half naked woman, guns, sex, money, you know the regular add some yawdies inna it and what you get: A pointless, gun happy Jamaican movie which I'm tired of seeing.
Me being a Jamaican Canadian, I feel a little disappointed that this movie did so well in the eyes of a lot of people I know but really Jamaica, we can do so much better.
The acting from what I remember was actually good.I loved Mad Max. He was very watchable.
So if more time was spent into the storyline, character development,editing and plotting, then this movie would have been really good, but personally, I was left empty after watching it.But if you like the things that I stated already then you'll enjoy it.
I find it absurd how many users believed this movie to be a "real" or at all a factually rooted depiction of the Jamaican and Miami criminal life.
Unintentional comedy and poor acting is laden throughout the film, like the scene when the camera zooms out and Max is using a decapitated arm to smoke a cigarette (hilarious).
The scene when the lead character, Biggs, pulls his car up to Wyclef Jean as he's standing on the corner, playing a "Haitan Gangster," and has his extortion attempt foiled, might've been the single stupidest and worst written scenes in any gangster movie.
The movie shouldn't play out like an ignorant fantasy, but rather like the story you read about in the news paper on your way to work.
The only thing the movie was good for was the soft-porn scenes with two smoking hot girls, Biggz's girl and the jewelry store girl.
Like "The Harder they Come" and "Scarface" (both of which it echoes,) this movie is about young men growing up hard on the mean streets of Jamaica, using violence to rise to the top of the drug world.
The Jamaican locale is presented as a gritty, urban jungle where young children play at being "shottas," Jamaican lingo for gangsters.
In fact, the very first scene shows the major characters as children playing cops and robbers, only here the robbers are the good guys.
When one of them puts his toy gun to the head of his playmate and goes bang, he yells out "I killed the snitch." That theme of gun violence pervades the whole movie before it's over and you get to see some wild action as well as some gruesome murders.The film stars Kymani Marley, the son of the legendary Bob Marley.
With smoldering good looks, neat dreads and a soulful demeanor, Kymani Marley takes the lead early on.
The young gangster has a smooth, muscular body, broad shoulders and narrow waist, which the movie showcases in action scenes and in the bedroom.
His posse consists of the equally physical Spragga Benz and some rough and tumble Jamaican street muscle.Physically, Kymani has this role nailed, but you have to wonder how the son of one of the world's most spiritual entertainers – a guy who preached peace – would feel about his son playing the part of a ruthless thug that deals out death as casually as cigarettes.
So smooth is Kymani that you actually believe it - until you see the knife slowly drawn across the big man's throat.The moral ambiguity is only underlined when a police raid (the Jamaican cops look like gang members – some in uniform – some shirtless,) indifferently fires tech 9s into a crowd of party goers.
Of course the gun is part of the attraction and, when one admirer begins to run her hands over his ripped body, she actually purrs when she touches it.The second half of the movie, spent in Miami, gets a little repetitive.
Jumping some twenty years ahead left many unanswered questions that was not answered even at the end of the movie.Kymani Marley did an excellent job I must say!
Story lines were not developed entirely but certainly not an awful movie..
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!!!!!.
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.