Entertaining, but it lacks bite and emotion

Rating: 7/10 (3 April 2005)

Martin Scorsese's Casino has all the ingredients for a great crime film. It's got hits, bad language, Robert DeNiro, gambling, lots of Italian Americans - it's all there. Furthermore, it's got a great soundtrack, the Las Vegas setting makes for a great location and the acting is largely very good...but somehow, this just isn't a great film. Scorsese has missed the mark thanks to a lack of emotion. There is no reason to care for the characters in this movie, and that makes the film hard to connect with on the whole. The movie also follows the common Scorsese format, in that some guy gets rich and respected, then something bad happens and he finds himself back where he started. In fact, the ending of this movie is only an "I'm a schmo" away from being a complete copy of Goodfellas. Still, at least the movie manages to stay interesting for most of it's runtime, and it's easy to forgive the flaws when you're watching Joe Pesci threatening someone who's head he's jammed into a vice.
Casino lasts almost three hours, and it's fair to say therefore that this movie is overlong. It's not so bad for the first two hours, but once the film enters the final third; cracks begin to appear and the film isn't as interesting as it was, not much unlike Goodfellas; which also suffered from a trite final third. Tarantino's influence on cinema is felt in this movie, and that is obvious from the way that Scorsese has seen fit to saturate the movie in 'cool' old classics. Still, some of these songs; such as Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way" and The Animals' "The House of the Rising Sun" are really good songs and actually bode well with the action on screen. For this movie, Martin Scorsese has re-recruited the excellent pairing of Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci, and both give their trademark excellent performances in this film. Casino may well be DeNiro's last great performance before he went on his downward spiral, which started with the fellow 1995 movie "Heat". On the whole, while this film is technically sound, it lacks emotional bite and there will be times during the film when your interest will trail off. It's an entertaining ride, but it's one that is ultimately shallow.