A Masterpiece !

Rating: 10/10 (4 December 2001)

The only thing keeping this movie from being known as Scorsese's crowning achievement is that other movie he made known as "Raging Bull".
I have read many times how "Raging Bull" was the greatest movie of the 80's. That's probably true. This is possibly the greatest movie of the 90's (definitely in the top 3).
The thing that makes this movie so attractive to me is that Scorsese didn't set out to make another "Godfather". This isn't about Mafia Kings, or Crime Lords. This is about the lower level of people who are the "soldiers". These are the people who are several levels down from Don Corleone. Hence, the tone of the movie is much more raw, and violent.
Scorsese pays attention to every little detail in this movie. He uses so many different aspects of cinema in order to turn what may be a typical scene into something that you always remember. Examples of this include the brilliant camera work through the back entrance of the nightclub ; freeze frames that are accompanied with interesting narrative ; great shifts in scenes that highlight twists in the characters' minds. It is as though Scorsese had a whole bag of tricks that he was picking from to put into this movie - and they all work perfectly.
The soundtrack is implemented brilliantly. In some cases it places an exclamation point on a dramatic scene (when the opening chords of Cream's "Sunshine Of Your Love" play as the camera centers on James Conway you know something bad is going to be happening soon). In other cases it is used to give the viewer a sense of a time period (50's, 60's, 70's etc). Scorsese even shows the same scene twice from two different angles just to illustrate two different points of view...brilliant !
I could go on forever about this movie...but that would be ridiculous. The best way to illustrate just how brilliant Scorsese is, is to point out that this isn't even considered his best movie by many !!!!!