Great, but Great to Scorsese is Mediocre to The Everyday Director

Rating: Null/10 (2 June 2013)

Trust. The fascinating theme and moral reassurance for Martin Scorsese's attempt to hit critics and audiences as hard as he hit them with his classic, Goodfellas. Unfortunately, his arm isn't strong enough to smack the audience on that level. However, he does leave a great impression thanks to his style, control, of course the two components that make his films the best of the best: his film editor and Robert DeNiro.
In Spanish, "money" is translated to "diniro". Hiring Robert DeNiro to star as the leading role in a film centered around gambling. The irony is fascinating. Thrown into a role that is more simplistic than past roles Scorsese has put DeNiro front and center for, DeNiro delivers the goods and is the MVP in Casino, when his two co-stars are given much more to raise a circus with. Speaking of, Joe Pesci. While one may question the actor's range with his role choices, no one can deny him the praise he deserves at knocking these types of characters through the wall and then some.
Talk about more irony. Sharon Stone was the only cast member (or crew member for that fact) to receive an Oscar nomination for her work in Casino. She gets to cry, she gets to yell, she gets to do drugs, but hardly is she ever to scratch below the surface and bring something real out in her character. Ginger is resorted to Stone's awkwardness on the screen, struggling through scenes other actresses could've killed by throwing a hissy fit. She doesn't work in the role. Not that the role isn't rooted in clichÃ©, unoriginality, and lacks the development needed to make this trite stereotype a quality character.
Much of the film is montage with narration guiding the viewer through the quick action. Scorsese films have tightly strung editing, but nothing ever like this has been produced before. The film barely gives us full length scenes until the last third, but those are drown in Stone's distracting acting efforts. It's a complete mystery to me how Casino was shot and edited; there are so many scenes to get caught up in that last 20 seconds at most some of them. Major props to the editing and Scorsese. I'm aware giving Scorsese praise in that fashion is redundant and expected with each film he directs, but here it's earned considering this is one of his weaker efforts.
The film's running time is a monstrous one, and coming from a person who checks their watch incessantly in a film that's over two hours, I didn't feel the length once. It kept me interested and invested in the happenings of the story. The viewer almost rides it like a raft down a river. But, just because it's watchable doesn't always mean it's worth watching. In this case, it is worth the flaws. Flaws, in which the film erupts with as does the opening scene's car bombing. The story is fun, minutely intriguing, and entertains us with the back dealings of Vegas and then seem. But somehow the story and the characters sometimes feel like they are struggling to stay above water. Casino is very reminiscent of The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, homaging the plot arc, specific scenes, themes, subject matters, and the iconic endings.
When I was growing up, my mother demanded respect at all times. Even when we were giving her respect beyond any of our peer's efforts for their parents, she still never felt it was enough. She was never going to be satisfied For DeNiro's character, Trust is his version of my mother's trust. He falls in love with Stone's character, knowing her tarnished reputation and her art of conning, but still he chooses to marry her and forces her to be loyal to him. Deep down he knows that he shouldn't trust her, but he lives reality as if she was worthy of his trust. Just as the average joe wants to believe Vegas is an honest place and in gambling you risk it all, but as the saying goes The House Always Wins. Perhaps DeNiro strives for personal strivings for trust result from his view of the unlawful acts of the city. Even though he tries to maintain legitimacy in his end of business dealings, maybe real trust cannot be found in Las Vegas.
RATING: 7.5/10
GRADE: B+