User reviews

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. It basically follows the fortunes of two young men who grow up as close as brothers. They are the original shottas two youts who grow in the ghetto and use ghetto menatlity to get them out. 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.

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. But as the stakes rise and the games turn deadly, their rise to the top could be followed by a spectacular fall.

Having West Indian work colleagues, the particular lingo they use grows on you after a while and you can pick up some of this particular mangling of the English language. But the 'patois' featured heavily in Shottas would appear to be so heavy that subtitles are required through out, even if you do try to get rid of them on the menu screen. Their particular phrases, descriptions and certainly insults will certainly make an impression on you and so, even if this tale of young upstarts rising through the criminal underworld isn't particularly original or inspired, it's distinctive and amusing enough for this reason alone. Bob Marley's son Kymani Marley has presence in the lead role, and there's other musical talent in the cast including Wyclef Jean in a supporting role. ***

Firstly, it was fairly entertaining and had very good camera work although will look slightly outdated now. But it followed the same 3 chords the whole film. Dialogue a bit forced at times and some "actors" seemed to be anything but. It's fine for ok watch but won't be remembered as anything special.

A bit uneven, Shottas suffers from low quality transfers that just add to the film's problems. My dvd copy would sometimes cut to a black screen that would say: Insert more robbery scenes here. 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). While I did like the music, it's over-used and just sort of "there"- didn't do much for the film other than elicit some head-nodding on my part. The Anderson character is a joke-he's a political-bad guy cut-out. And how about that "tongue-in-cheek" joke about Wyclef's character banking on a music career? Horrible. Did I care what happened at the end of the film to the main characters? Not really, they were bad people who did bad things, a sentiment I held regarding Cess Silvera's directing effort.

I had read much about this film before I actually saw it. It has been circulating around for quite some time and has subsequently gained a cult following. With that in mind I was actually looking forward to seeing this film.This movie could have been good. Instead it squandered any quality on cheap cliché and stereotypes. It comes off as Belly light. Only Ky-Mani Marleys' and Louie Rankins acting is any good. The rest of the cast is your typical b-movie thespian. Everything is very formulaic in this film. On a brighter note the soundtrack is very good. I am sure a lot of people would enjoy this movie. But even for mindless shoot em up entertainment this film falls flat.

This movie will probably be difficult to find, but it's worth it!

Cess Silvera does a good job directing. Everything looks very cool and stylish. He also captures the action scenes very well, they are not overly bloody either. Well done to him on the writing too. It is an original story. 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. Also the Jamaican drug dealers in Miami. I hope to see more from Cess Silvera!

Quite good soundtrack. All the songs suit the scene their placed in.

Some people thought that the acting wasn't good. I thought it was fine. Each actor plays their character very well. The stand outs were Ky-Mani Marley and Paul Campbell.

Overall I thought it was a cool and enjoyable movie. A good gangster film. As I said before, it maybe difficult to find, but it's worth it!

Shottas tells the story of Biggs & Wayne. Both poverty stricken Jamaican youths who want the "shotta" (jamaican for gangster) lifestyle. They begin by robbing a cola truck and move on from there. The story was actually good. As said in other comments, I also was ready for "another rapper" movie. Ky-mani Marley did a great job. Same goes for Spragga Benz. If you want to see a gritty, violent, & entertaining tale, watch Shottas.

This movie was nothing but a knockoff of previous gangster movies. It was an attempt to cash in on an era that has since died off due to heavy saturation. It had no plot whatsoever and I could care less about any of the main characters. The acting wasn't very good and it never showed any build up of any of the characters rise to power. It says on the DVD cover that Shottas will rank up there with Scarface or City Of God as a classic, what a gimmick. This movie sucked major I'm not allowed to write you know what. This will definitely rank somewhere in your bargain bin at the local Wal-Mart. I give it 3 out of 10 stars generously.

I was very entertained by this yaad-man's gangster flick. 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)... Haven't seen it on DVD but I will be sure to buy when it shows up

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. Then they go to Miami and shoot some more drug dealing murderers. Unfortunately, nobody cares who dies, because there are no decent guys, or loyal friends, just a bunch of scumbags shooting each other. There is not even a female character to sympathize with; every woman in this trash is a cheap whore who will screw any gangster with a Rolex and a gun. Seemingly penned by a 10 year old, this is insulting garbage of the worst kind. Shot with an annoying and dated MTV music video style, "Shottas" is noisy, headache-inducing vomit. How dare they compare this throwaway to a masterpiece like "Scarface." I would say more, but I have already wasted enough of my time on this commercial effort to shock the mainstream crowd... What a depressing embarrassment for all involved...

I read that the movie is very bad. I don't agree. Some scenes are filmed like soap-opera but in general the movie avoids all the clichés from the Hollywood films. I recently saw Miami Vice from Michael Mann and I hated it. For Hollywood there are only good guys and bad guys. Just that, nothing in between. Instead in Shottas shows you exactly how gangsters are created. Created by imitation. Dreaming of a nice life that will never come. Music score is very good and Marley is good even he is not a real pro-actor. Some of the gangsters look like if they were taken from the real shanty-towns of Kingston. That is good. Shows authenticity.

Shottas is not the greatest movie made nor is it the worst movie made. It's an honest effort from a no name director thats trying to make his mark. If you didn't know , Shottas was a huge underground bootleg hit before it finally came officially available thanks to Sony in January of this year. Obviously Sony saw it fit to push this underground classic. 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.

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. It's real and raw and shows the corruption of the Jamaican Government and Police that continues today.

Crucial message to the youth. All you need is a gun. And you will have a mansion filled with women; an expensive car, and everything else you could dream of. Don't worry about the police. Don't worry about armies of police. With tanks and planes and bombs. They won't do anything to stop you. And if you shoot people, money will just materialize like magic in front of you. You can shoot government officials during the day, and you'll still be rich. Does anyone believe this? No one could be that stupid. I gave it three stars, because I like the music; and the women were pretty.

This is the worst movie I've ever seen. 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. I've seen a lot of rapsploitation movies, but usually there's some move toward making them visually palatable. Shottas makes no pretense in that direction. No one in this movie can act. The sex scenes are awful. Totally unsexy. Weird angles. Obvious musical choices. The patois is pretty clear in most places, but the few time it would have been nice to read the subtitles, they weren't clear (up against the wrong color on the screen). And the subtitles skipped whole blocks of text. I could go on, but I'm at work. Seriously, though. If you have to choose between watching this movie, or shoving dull pencils through your eye sockets, grab the pencils.

My issue with the movie is that I, as an English speaking American, was not able to understand half of what was being said. If you understand the dialect I'm sure the movie is a lot better. I kept looking for English subtitles.

About 1/3 of the way through I couldn't take it anymore. The acting wasn't that great. The soundtrack was pretty good.

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

Shottas is another example of a highly overrated movie. Okay it's low budget but that's not an excuse, there are good low budget movies, but this one is just not of them. The story is just dumb, though guys playing gangsta, that's about it. The acting is below mediocre, nobody from that cast will ever be a good actor so they should just give up on that dream. The only good thing about Shottas is the music. The soundtrack is all Reggae and Raggamuffin of good quality so that was a positive thing but for the rest it's just not good at all.

This is one sick movie. Described on the cover as the 'wickedest bloodclot gunshot movie ever!', Shottas proceeds to live up to those expectations. The Soundtrack is really good, sets the tone and atmosphere to the key. There is no pointless subplots involving a female lead. I was really surprised that the actual story was much better than expected. I thought I was in for one of those stupid movies with rappers (i.e. Belly). Kymani Marley and Spraga Benz are both excellent.