Scorsese tries to do a Goodfellas 2 but forgets to give substance to his style

Rating: Null/10 (30 January 2002)

The rise (and fall) of casino boss Ace Rothstein in 1970's Las Vegas. The film charts Ace's struggle in love with money hungry Ginger McKenna and his struggles to control his business with the violent influence of partner and friend Nicky Santoro.
This is very much a rerun of Goodfellas - the running time, the heavy style of Scorsese, the cast, the soundtrack, the violence. However here the story is so thin that it is really stretched to breaking point. The first half is mainly just action, heavily stylised scenes with De Niro's voice over giving it a vague direction. The plot kicks in in the second half with Rothstein's empire crumbling in parallel with his relationship with Ginger. The action is pretty good, but the lack of narrative is a big problem.
In Goodfellas, Scorsese's tricks seemed to be the icing on a very, very good cake. Here they seem to be a end onto themselves. Similarly Pesci's performance is very much a turned up version of his Tommy. Scorsese's tricks, tracking shots and soundtrack all seem to be wasted here - as if he was looking for an excuse to do his visual stuff without needing a strong story.
Overall this is an unfortunate version of Goodfellas. Visually it is great but without a strong story it feels very empty and shallow - After Raging Bull and Goodfellas I didn't think Scorsese, De Niro and Pesci could do a bad movie. Unfortunately here it is.