One of Scorsese's finest crime dramas

Rating: 9/10 (23 May 2019)

Martin Scorsese is without a doubt one of the finest individuals to ever sit behind a movie camera having directed great films like "Raging Bull", "The Departed", "Goodfellas", "Gangs of New York", "Hugo", and "The Aviator" this movie is a welcomed addition to that already masterful resume for me. This movie is the ninth collaboration between Scorsese and his right hand man Robert De Niro and so far it's their most recent until their upcoming Netflix film "The Irishman" comes out later this year. De Niro stars as Sam "Ace" Rothstein who owns a casino in Las Vegas called the "Tangiers" and happens to be based on Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal who started out as a sports better in Chicago and the mob decides that he would be a potential asset to their income and decides to send him to Vegas to run a casino. Rothstein then moves down to Vegas to run the place and not long after his best friend Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) along with his brother Dominic (Philip Suriano), and his associate Frankie Marino (Frank Vincent) are sent by the mob bosses to make sure everything in the place runs smoothly. Rothstein's trusted manager is an older guy named Billy Sherbert (Don Rickles) who at his side at all times during working hours and also watches everything that goes on and makes sure nobody does anything wrong. Then one day while the casino is in operation Rothstein sees a blond haired woman who he instantly falls in love with named Ginger McKenna (Sharon Stone) who is a hustler and former prostitute who has a pimp friend named Lester Diamond (James Woods) who she has known since they were kids and sometimes presents obstacles in her marriage to Rothstein. The movie's story is more than just the rise and fall of a mob family but also the downfall of one man's life, relationships, and wealth. Scorsese is a director who pays an immense attention to every little detail in his movies which makes it feel like you are there in the movie with his characters going through certain things in their lives, and in this case presents the excess that the characters live in perfectly proving that money can't make your life happy no matter how much you may have, and there are dire consequences with messing with a mobster's trust. This is one of the most violent gangster movies I've ever seen. Scorsese's direction is always in top form especially with this movie and his screenplay that he co-wrote with Nicholas Pileggi (who also co-wrote the screenplay for "Goodfellas" as well as the books that both films are based on.) Robert Richardson's cinematography is excellent same with the editor by Scorsese's longtime editor Thelma Schoonmaker. The acting is also superb especially by Stone who nabbed an Oscar nomination for best actress who managed to get the movie its only nomination. But however my only problem with the movie is that it seemed a little bit on the long side for me which makes it seem a bit drawn out and at the same time is justified due to Scorsese's fast pacing and deep focus into Rothstein's personal life, and as a result is one of the best inside stories about a gangster I've ever seen along with "The Godfather" series, "Scarface", and "Goodfellas". The movie is one of the best of its kind and is a near masterpiece.