A-

Pros
- great performances by beloved actors

Cons
- too long. Like Tarantino with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, even established directors need to be reined in
- uncanny valley effect during most (but not all) the de-aging scenes. Gemini Man seemed to do a better job.


Not among his top 3 (Goodfellas, Departed, Wolf) but definitely in the top half of Scorcese’s work. I enjoyed it.

This is something that has concerned me about the whole de-aging thing. I'm not familiar with the story or much about the movie so far beyond the trailer, and while I'm anticipating seeing it, I wonder why did they go with de-aging versus casting a younger actor with some sort of resemblance to the older actors? What if Brando did The Godfather II and this technology had been available? We wouldn't have gotten an Oscar-winning performance from DeNiro. It's odd that people are shunning the idea of reviving James Dean decades after his death, but they're fine with taking roles from actors and going with CGI technology.

Maybe the film necessitates it, and that's fine. But it's not like I look at a de-aged DeNiro and think he's young again. The technology only takes it so far.

I don't see it becoming a trend. We're fortunately coming at a time when the benefits of using more iconic actors will dwindle out as their are fewer high profile actors that are 70+ now, and many are against the idea for the reasons of either hating it, not looking good, or not being able to act physically younger. I see the technology being used more in the vain of Benjamin Button moving forward.

I see the DeNiro in Godfather 2 argument being more important. That is many times the exception, and many times different actors playing the same role in a film, one is usually better than the other. But another example. Tom Hanks only portrayed Forrest Gump the way he did because he watched the dailies of the kid playing young Forrest.

On the de-aging tech - It feels seemless enough in that it isnt distracting (which I expected). If anything - I didn't feel the actors were as "de-aged" as expected. Plus with true de-aging tech (I'm sure they'll get there) the actors would actually look like they looked at that age (we know how they did look because we have other films as proof). But they do not.

Magnus is right - the biggest issue is that the face may appear younger but the body does not. Hence why they feel older than what they should be.

The film itself: well made as usual, entertaining and brilliant acting, especially from Pacino and Pesci. The film could do with some trimming (I do admit to dozing off a little in the middle) but the fact that this is made for Netflix is probably why Marty didn't bother. In the theatre though - you could feel all 3.5 hours.

Also kudos to Steven Graham - great in his role.

Grade: A/A-

Yep I fucking loved this. It's just great seeing Scorsese make another EPIC gangster film after all these years. Stellar performances across the board from Pacino, Deniro and Pesci and man between this and his role as Al Capone on Boardwalk Empire I almost do keep forgetting that Stephen Gram is a Brit. That guy is pretty damn convincing as an Italian gangster. The de-aging scenes, especially in the beginning were really shoddy though mostly because of the stiff body movements, but no so much the faces IMO. I found it a little overlong too, although I was never bored by it.

It definitely could have been trimmed in some places.

A

holy fuck way too long, ridiculous and just not an engaging story

Obviously this is a very well made film but looking past the sold production values, there are a few BIG problems for me and I doubt this would have made every much in theaters.

-It is just unbelievably and inexcusably long and slow. There are so many long takes that are pointless. There is a very watchable 140 minute movie buried in there somewhere. As is, it isn't rewatchable at all and feels like a tremendous chore to get through.
-The "de-ageing" process is a mess and incredibly distracting. RDN's face may look SLIGHTLY younger but his body and movements are still that of an 80 year old. The scene where he beats up the convenience store clerk was HILARIOUS for how terrible it was. DeNiro looks much more like the youngsters fucking Grandfather than their Dad.
-DeNiro and Pacino's performance here leaves a lot to be desired in general. One does not buy that they're very close friends. They may not be enemies but the friendship just feels underdeveloped which greatly reduces the power of things towards the end.
-The Union itself is just never really established. What does it do and how does organized crime into it? Because loans come through it? Why does it matter that Hoffa get back on top?
-Bizarre such a ridiculously long movie can feel underdeveloped in these 2 areas
-Anna Paquin says like 5 words of dialogue

Joe Pesci is the real delight here, as always, practicing restraint.

C

it aint no Godfather, lemme tell ya

This is really good for about one hour (mostly the Hoffa parts) and the rest just kinda meanders along with lots and lots of narration. Could easily cut up to an hour and have the same movie.

I've seen this movie twice now and what really bothers me is that it felt like watching a sunday-afternoon story about some 60 year old who just happened to spend his last few years as mob member. The de-aging of DeNiro was a disaster and completely took me out of the movie so many times. DeNiro in general wasn't that great for most of the time. I feel like he lost whatever he had. Pesci, on the other hand, was just a joy to watch. I liked Pacino's performance too, but he didn't wow me like Pesci did. The movie's biggest fault was that it just couldn't suck me in for most of the time. I did like it overall, it's just far far away from the masterpiece it should be.

It is a shame Pesci doesn't act more, he is a treasure

One thing I appreciated - unlike Goodfellas, Sopranos, Joker, etc... this movie does not glorify the mafia or a life of organized crime in any way. It shows exactly what type of shithole people are in this life and how those shitholes think they deserve all the power in the world and will do any number of horrible acts to get it. Fuck the mob, I hope they all get nut cancer.

Goodfellas got it right by the end, but at no point during The Irishman does it seem an appealing lifestyle.

That's the beauty of The Irishman and the final scenes in particular.

And yes Hoffa comes off almost saintly - but that's because we see him mainly from Frank's POV (and Pacino plays him so damn likeable).

It's also a lot easier for people to judge Hoffa today, back then he was like Sinatra to the working man. I'm surprised a lot of the modern day political jokes were overlooked. Pacino was spot on. Delving into the allegory of modern day politics is kind of overlooked now.

Also, last years of his life? The guy was in the mob for over 45 years. No idea what Riggs is talking about. And Frank was a cold blooded killer for 10+ years before the mob got into him.

That's all true, I know that. And that's my big problem with the de-aging tech. I wasn't seeing much difference between old De Niro and even older De Niro. It just didn't felt like much time has passed in the film except for the different actresses playing his daughter.

The more I think about the more I do appreciate the restraint Scorsese showed in this movie which is a refreshing change of pace compared to his past gangster films. Yeah it's slower, and doesn't have that same manic energy that Goodfellas or Casino had which probably makes it less re-watchable, but I really enjoyed how it felt a lot different from those films.

I appreciate it more intellectually and as an artistic statement than I was in love watching it. I thought the 3.5 hour run time was actually fine, it doesn't feel like there's much filler (eg. you don't have to spend 15 minutes on him having an affair with the waitress, it makes quick work of the court scenes, etc.). I just felt there was something artificial about it. Frank's family didn't feel like a real family, even after you take into account him being emotionally removed. Stuff like the date of death for everyone was cute, but also took you out of it a bit. It's also just a weird movie protagonist wise since it mostly shits on Frank by the end, he spent his whole life never questioning violence or doing evil, not being able to realize like his daughter did immediately that Russell is a sociopath, etc. - he's just a dumb and shallow person, which represents a lot of gangsters and criminals, but self aware just enough to have some guilt over it. On the other hand Hoffa is the most likeable person in the movie (maybe it's too kind to him considering he's a crook), so for the middle part of it, it feels like Hoffa's movie compared to Frank who intentionally is shown as a bystandar and absolving himself of guilt more than he deserves. The transition to being Frank's movie the first third to by the second third feeling like they should've just made a 2 hour Hoffa movie, to going back to Frank wasn't quite seamless to me. Also ultimately it's a movie about a bad person (Frank) who had some potential but squandered it, a bad person who was irredeemable from the start (Russell) and a bad person who compared to everyone else has some sort of heart (Hoffa) and at some point 3.5 hours of bad people kind be wearing.

With that said, De Niro, Pacino and Pesci threesome is AMAZING and all in different ways. I think the critics singling out Pesci is going a little overboard, he's great, but the other two deserve just as much credit. The movie really hinges on Pacino being likable and he hits it out of the park and De Niro simply has the biggest, most complex role by far, and it seems to me like he should be the one getting the bulk of the attention for that. Paquin's role actually works great, like Robbie in OUATIH her character is one of the most important parts of the movie, and her moral judgments of the three male characters say a lot about each of them. The last half hour and Frank's fate is perfect. There's a lot of great stuff here but I can't put my finger on way I'm not going all the way praising it. I really like that Scorsese made a gangster film that feels and saying something so different than his previous ones though.

This film is like watching your favorite sports star play one last good (but not great) game before they retire.

Just like how Kurosawa will be remembered as a master of samurai films, Scorsese masterfully touches the crime genre and he does it again here. There's that slow burning 'glory days' feeling that Scorsese captures so well. Though the film may have been a bit long, I appreciate the older style of filmmaking that is sorely missing these days.

The acting was phenomenal, especially from Pacino. Sure, De Niro might have been better but I feel that was the point. I think they were trying to have him play that everyman role which tends to have actors take a step back in favor of the figure their character idolizes (or despises). This is true for many films. Unfortunately, the de-aging didn't look so good on his part.

Either way, this film will probably get remembered as a forgotten gem but it's probably not going to be one of Scorsese's crown jewels.

This film is the last of an era and because of that, people will look at it more fondly in the future. It still won't be a great film but it will be an indication that the old guard has shared something special before moving on.

8/10

While I agree, I think he already kind of did that with The Departed and that will be looked on more from that perspective. Like Eastwood with Unforgiven for the Western genre.

This is a great cap off for DeNiro, Pacino, Pesci, Keitel, and Scorcese final onscreen pairing. This is his Expendables or farewell tour. I don't think I have to see any of them in a crime film ever again.

Very solid toned down gangster epic. The anti-aging effects on the main actors certainly works and and it's a good film through all decades it takes place. It's nice to see DeNiro, Pacino and Pesci all together in this, I especially liked that Pesci was in a prominent role in a big film again. But the film is long and while I was quite interested in Sheeran's story it doesn't have the staying power like most other Scorcese film's I've seen. It's still really good, but not that re-watchable and I feel it got a bit too much credit at the awards as well.

B+