3 great films, tied into one OK film

Rating: Null/10 (7 September 2004)

Scorsese is a great director. Yet, I felt he couldn't mesh these three strands together into a coherent whole. The Gangster part is great. The Jail part is great. The Witness protection part is great. Yet, somehow, the sum is less than the parts. Still worth a watch, though. Liotta is great. De Niro is De Niro. Joe Pesci is terrific. Beautifully shot, well edited, in its component parts, all the things you expect from a Scorsese film are there. Except coherence. If you compare it to, say 'Last Temptation of Christ', which in many ways was a harder film to direct, Goodfellas comes up wanting. Watch it. But appreciate its three discrete parts, rather than the whole.