36
Metascore
9 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 50VarietyVarietyGangster tale Shottas feels like a Jamaican "Scarface," offering a vivid slice of the underground street culture of Kingston. Still, the violence is senseless and the plot full of holes.
- 50Village VoiceVillage VoiceWriter-director Cess Silvera claims he's trying to "show the gritty life of Jamaican immigrants," but Shottas is no more a social-issue film than "Scarface."
- 40L.A. WeeklyErnest HardyL.A. WeeklyErnest HardyIt doesn't help that the level of acting in the film brings nothing but accidental humor to the mix.
- There's no social commentary discernible here; merely a rap-video style glorification of the gangsta life, complete with mad money, barely clad babes and that annoying affectation of holding pistols sideways. As to its treatment of women, well, it's not exactly a feminist film.
- 40The New York TimesNeil GenzlingerThe New York TimesNeil GenzlingerCess Silvera, the film's writer and director, doesn't find any of the humanity or inner demons that would allow the characters to rise above B-movie exploitation.
- 38Boston GlobeWesley MorrisBoston GlobeWesley MorrisA slick but dull new shoot- ' em-up from Jamaica, doesn't penetrate the mysteries of high-rolling, high-risk thug life.
- 30Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesChicago ReaderJ.R. JonesDespite the syncopated score and subtitled patois, this is just another "Scarface" knockoff, with the usual array of bling, booty, and ballistics.
- 25Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsChicago TribuneMichael PhillipsShottas exists purely in the realm of rasta-music-video fakery.