Scorsese's most compelling drama

Rating: 9/10 (29 June 2012)

Totally compelling to watch. Robert De Niro at 43 years of age packs his best performance since Goodfellas! I've always admired De Niro as an actor. His narrating, acting, and undeniable talent as an actor is there for all to see. It may not quite be the movie Goodfellas was. But, I'd put it 2nd best in the whole MOB Movie franchise. A strong, ambitious story about a multi-million dollar Casino deep in the lively city of Las Vegas set back in the year 1983. Mr Sam "Ace" Rothstein (De Niro)is given the opportunity of a lifetime to take on the job of running the huge Tangiers Casino, the biggest casino in Las Vegas. He marries the beautiful sexy wildcard "Ginger" McKenna played by the gorgeous Sharon Stone who looks elegantly dazzling. Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) is Ace's bodyguard or "Muscle" if you like. His job is to make sure nobody messes around with the golden jewel. Later on Sam's relationship with Ginger totally disintegrates leaving Sam and their daughter Amy in an out of control situation with the circumstances resulting in the crazed Sharon Stone going on a rampage of madness until she finally gets arrested by an FBI agent and taken to jail. Nicky Santoro also has every FBI agent in the city watching him with great suspicion thinking he (which he was) behind multiple murder plots. The problem was that they always had to let Nicky go because there were never, ever any witnesses or evidence that he murdered these people. Very late on into the Movie near the end, Nicky and his brother (His closest friend) named Dominic are mercilessly & tenaciously beaten down in acres of cornfield around the desert of Las Vegas and buried alive in holes & filled with sand. The scene is excruciating to watch as the beating is realistic and extremely graphic to watch. Nicky's friend Frankie was responsible as he had basically just had enough of Nicky's evil behaviour and finally puts an end to his dominance. Frankie and his murder plot chums use wooden baseball bats and metal crowbars and whack Nick & his brother with them very hard. Seconds after Mr Rothstein faces a NDE as a bomb is planted under his car. Ace survives with minor burns thanks to a device under his seat that saved his life. He is seen on a stretcher being wheeled into an ambulance with the emergency docs saying "You sure are lucky, mister." Everyone should take precaution that this movie isn't for the faint of heart and contains incredibly graphic and realistic torture scenes that should not be watched by people who can't watch bloody scenes. Also there is around 600+ swear words including 430 uses of the infamous F-word including 3 racial slurs which should also be avoided if you dislike profanity. The Acting is absolutely outstanding and spot on though with a great cast, story, and director. Movie Tag: "No one stays at the top forever"