Tito is the second installment in the new-wave Egyptian action movies. After Mafia by Sherif Arafa, which was a breakthrough in Egyptian cinema making, Tarek El-Aryan brings us Tito, the next logical step. Very simply, this movie is about an ex-con who tries to escape his sinful life by starting a new one, but his past comes back to haunt him. The reason, in my opinion, why Tito is better than Mafia is because the script and story line in Tito is more complex, and some of the characters had real depth in them and where fully developed throughout the movie.
If you take the leading role (Tito) you can see and therefor understand the circumstances that made him what he is, and consequently sympathies with him at the end. As for the corrupt officer (Raafat), he is the kind of character that we know exists in our daily lives, and therefore did not need much development; nevertheless he was given enough screen time in order for us to understand his motives and beliefs. The rest of the cast were merely supportive roles, aiming at serving the development of Tito's Character. The pace of the movie was a little bit too slow, but the action sequences were great.
Although the action in the movie was a build-up for the drama, there are far too many action sequences to rate this movie as drama, this is definitely an action flick!! Ahmed El-Saqqa's Acting was was considerably good, he is definitely trying to improve and develop himself which is something to be appreciated, but the fact that he performs all his difficult stunts should be very respected. The biggest surprise in the movie, had to be Khaled Saleh. His charismatic portrayal of the corrupt officer Raafat was truly fascinating, showing so many different sides of the officer throughout the movie. He would be be funny and loving at times, desperate at others, but devilishly wicked at all times. The sets in the movie were brilliant. All the houses were decorated in a beautiful way, but the restaurant was a piece of art, what a shame it was to destroy it! Tarek El-Aryan's obsession with American Movies shows once again. The link is clear between this movie and movies like Carlito's Way and Empire, but Tarek definitely does a good job of adapting the story to suit the Egyptian culture and life style, as he did before in his masterpiece "El-Imbrator".
