Shottas (2002)

13% of critics liked it
(15 reviews)
89% of users liked it
(8,427 ratings)

Grammy-nominated reggae artist Kymani Marley and Jamaican dancehall star Spragga Benz star in director Cess Silvera's tale of two Kingston gangsters looking to make a name for themselves on the mean streets of Kingston. Homegrown gangers Biggs (Marley) and Wayne (Benz) have paid their dues in… More Grammy-nominated reggae artist Kymani Marley and Jamaican dancehall star Spragga Benz star in director Cess Silvera's tale of two Kingston gangsters looking to make a name for themselves on the mean streets of Kingston. Homegrown gangers Biggs (Marley) and Wayne (Benz) have paid their dues in Kingston, and now they've set their sights on a better life in Miami. After robbing a soda truck to gain the funds needed to make their way to the United States, however, their dreams quickly turn to dust when they are deported for hustling and sent back to Jamaica with nothing but the shirts on their backs. Biggs and Wayne aren't willing to kiss their ambitions goodbye quite so easily though, and thanks to a little compliance from the Kingston politicians, the pair soon begin extorting money from the local businesses. The heavies in the Kingston underworld are beginning to resent the pair's wildfire success though, and as the pressure mounts to end the rising tide of crime a local politician pays the ultimate price to arrange for the visas that will get Biggs and Wayne back to Florida. Upon returning to the states, the now-powerful duo finds that there is a high price to pay for power in a world where to trust equals death and success simply means having more enemies. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Play Trailer

Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 35 min.
Directed By: Cess Silvera
Genres: Drama, Action & Adventure

In Theaters: Nov 3, 2006 Wide
On DVD: Jan 2, 2007
Studio: Sony Pictures Entertainment

Critic Reviews

John Anderson, Newsday
It's tough to imagine how someone could make a movie about Jamaican gangsterism that's so devoid of political content, but that's hardly Silvestra's biggest problem.
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger
Shottas has everything a bad music video should have -- close-ups of foreign sports cars, women with painful-looking implants stepping in and out of hot tubs, ugly men with gold teeth waving around automatics.
Neil Genzlinger, New York Times
Stars from reggae and other musical worlds give acting a try in Shottas, a witless, misogynistic, gratuitously violent, drug-culture-worshiping film.
Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter
Writer-director Cess Silvera delivers an empty, bullet-riddled exploitation combo of attitude and poses.
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
Who says they don't write good women's roles anymore? The females on view fall into two prototypes: Hot Tub Chippie No. 2 or Plastic Surgery Fire Sale Victim No. 3.
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe
There's no Robin Hood here, just a lot of hoods.
Ken Fox, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Even with its microbudget there's enough blood, booty and bling to satisfy fans of the genre. It's also never dull, thanks to Silvera's restless pacing and a great reggae soundtrack.
Jim Hemphill, Reel.com
De Palma and Scorsese breathed new life into the crime genre; Silvera just embalms it.
Evelyn McDonnell, Miami Herald
Unless you love senseless violence and gratuitous shots of fake breasts, you might want to listen with your eyes closed.
John P. McCarthy, Boxoffice Magazine
Crime flicks featuring nihilistic thugs engaged in futile, sometimes humorously soulless violence accompanied by a hip soundtrack aren't a commodity. And nothing in this energetic, hollow movie boosts its marketability or appeal.
Brent Simon, IGN Movies
Shottas, a Jamaican-set underworld flick executive produced by musician Wyclef Jean and being given a pat-on-the-head theatrical release in advance of its DVD peddling from Sony Pictures later this year, is proof that a movie can at least on some l
Laura Kelly, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
It would have been a more worthy effort to get past the lifestyle sheen to the emotional undercurrents of men who choose violence at every turn.
Ernest Hardy, L.A. Weekly
Shottas, based on a true story, has been sitting on shelves for a few years now, accruing mythology as a great film that's been unjustly sidelined. That, it is not. [It's] wretched.
Nick Schager, Slant Magazine
Stephen Marley's vociferous reggae-rap soundtrack makes painfully literal the film's The Harder They Come-Get Rich or Die Tryin' hybridization.

Read all 14 critic reviews

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An incredible gangsta tale of two friends that grow up together in the mean streets of Kingston Jamaica and migrates over to the US. See this it is a treasure.