The universal nature of crime -- and its dark appeal -- is driven home with bullets and bravado.

In short, Romanzo Criminale is interesting at first before overstaying its welcome and growing ever more tedious.

An ambitious, bloody and engrossing work.

It's hard to get much juice when it's all quick slice-and-dice in the first half-hour. . . . the moral slipperiness between criminal and politician, thug and cop, just doesn't ooze out here beyond all the blood.