A disappointment

Rating: 6/10 (5 September 2009)

I waited years to see this film. It was not worth the wait. I had seen and loved many of Leone's earlier films. Ironically, however, I watched for the first time his breakout movie (Fistful of Dollars) and this, his last, within two days of each other. Night and day. Fistful is a masterpiece, wonderful in so many ways. America, however, does not work on many levels -- many of which are pretty objective and so I am shocked at how many people love this film and claim it deserves to be in an "all timer" category. I would rate it as my least favorite Leone film.
The problems, as I see them are: (i) This is not a "four hour" film. It is a 2.5 hour film stretched to four by overly indulgent long scenes of people staring at each other. I admire artistic choice but (a) did not feel the artistic feel to his scenes worked, they felt over indulgent; and (b) found them unforgivable in taking a movie that did not need to be so long and stretching it (actually, this could have been a proper 4 hour movie, with an extra hour of plot put in). (ii) There was little emotional impact to the overall story. People love to romanticize gangster pics for some reason, but I was not seeing it here. The Max faked his death angle was (a) obvious, predicted it as soon as I realized "who" Max was; (b) hokey; and (c) the big "reveal" was perhaps the least interesting part of the movie. (iii) The plot is choppy and we don't get a clear enough view of certain characters. This is not a major attack, but if the first two had worked, this would have kept the film out of masterpiece status. (iv) Not impressed with the acting. Elizabeth McGovern was frankly awful. DeNiro, eh. Woods, OK. Loved Jennifer Connelly. (v) The music was like Quint running his fingers down the chalkboard. Loved it in other Leone films. Hated it here.
In conclusion, this is not an "awful" movie. It has positive elements. It is beautifully filmed in many instances. There is somewhat of an epic and historical feel, even if the plot does not completely work. But such a disappointment compared to expectations based on Leone's earlier works. I can see how people would like this film more than I. I am dumbfounded that anyone could rationally state that this is the best (or even one of the best) films ever as so many posters have. Way, way, way too many flaws.