I've always had an odd relationship with Martin Scorsese's films. He deserves all the high praise that he has ever got and he is most definitely a fantastic film-maker. I just don't quite have a lot of his films high up in my all-time list.
I seem to mainly give his just very good ratings. But never that extra bit to be an all-time classic for me. It's mainly his gangster films that I can rarely seem to get that extra bit of magic that a lot of others seem to get. I think it's to do the characters we're supposed to root for but are doing these despicable things. Films that involve someone's rise through the gangster rankings or involve heavy drug use just never seems to be working for me. Films like Goodfellas, The Wolf Of Wall Street, Gangs Of New York, Mean Streets, Raging Bull, Silence and The Last Temptation Of Christ I just seem to appreciate more than anything else. The craft is there for all to see. The only exceptions that I do fully engage with the story and the characters are Casino, Taxi Driver, King Of Comedy, The Departed and Hugo where the two latters films are firmly in my all-time top 100 list.
While a new film of his always gets me excited, the premise and cast involved just had me feeling it would fall under the same bracket as the majority of his back catalogue.
In a nutshell, it did. But as I said, I still fully appreciated the craft and there is a lot to praise about this 3hr 30mins gangster epic.
The story for a start was very interesting. Especially when it plucked bits of true history into its story. Seeing the development of our central character always had me interested for the entire duration especially for the surprisingly poignant finale.
As with all Scorsese films, the production design is tip-top and the cinematography is very well executed including a few signature long single takes that is always a crowd-pleaser.
Plus, there are some really good performances in here. It was great see gangster acting hall-of-fame take the helm in the form of Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci who came out of retirement to do this.
DeNiro controlled the leading role with such effortlessness that you could feel that this type of character is in his wheelhouse. He does everything you associate with DeNiro and it will please all of his fans.
Pesci was more subdued that a lot of his previous roles. But as he's been out of the game, some leniency is understandable. However, the subtle nature of his character was very effective and it was great reminder how Pesci was more than just good in gangster films in his heyday.
But stealing the show was Pacino. He made the most of having the best lines and gave us a larger-than-life character that produced most of the laughs in the film.
It wasn't just about the big three, as some of the supporting cast had their time in the sun.
Ray Romano was a particular highlight in the opening act. Stephen Graham surprised by giving an impressive American accent and bounce off well with the main characters.
It was also great to see Harvey Keitel, Jesse Plemons and Anna Paquin enhance the star power of the casf despite being in very minor roles.
With this story spanning over a few decades, de-aging technology is being used. While you know the technology is being used, it looked very seamless. It continues to scare me how close we are to struggle to tell what is CGI and what is live-action.
I did enjoy this. But like I said, I'm not going nuts over it. The performances are very good, it moves at a good pace to never let the long duration feel largely noticeable and it looks great.
But it's my personal taste that is getting in the way of me giving it a higher rating. Big Scorsese fans will probably consider this another one of his classics and it wouldn't surprise me if it gets noticed in the major awards. For me, I can't see it ending in my top 10 at the end of the year. But it is definitely needs to be experienced at least.
Rating: 8/10
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