A 9 or 10? Afraid not, been here, done this.

Rating: 7/10 (3 December 2019)

Even bad Scorsese films ("The Departed", 1/2 of the "Wolf of Wall Street") have some interesting elements. This is not a bad film, but it is not a strikingly good one either. If you are coming into this thinking you will be entertained like you were in "Goodfellas" or even "Casino", you will be disappointed.
Don't get me wrong. This is a top-notch production. The sound, the look, and it was long enough to take its time and give a lot of detail to things. I appreciate that. But the narrative is lacking here; it is not that interesting a piece. All of us, every one of us, has seen all of this before. It's the typical mob stuff. I knew what De Niro's final job was going to be long before it happened.
There are no surprises here, no curves. The characters learn nothing, there are no character arcs here. De Niro plays a boring, not very bright truck driver that finds himself largely through chance getting sucked into the Mafia. That could have been a great adventure, but the character just meanders through, then executes a quick violent act. The guy is the worst kind of sociopath, and only his final big hit do we see any fleeting remorse.
The Hoffa character, played with great enthusiasm by Al Pacino, is much more interesting. But his story here is played rather blandly too. Joe Pesci's plays his mob boss character quite well, but again, we've see that "guy" time and again. There is no new, interesting story here. It seems like the story tracks along, then out of nowhere someone gets shot in the head. Repeat. There is no suspense, no real surprise, the police work is only on scree for a few moments. The best times are the intimate moments between the Pacino and De Niro characters, as one might imagine. But the movie has no dynamics, it has no heart. There is absolutely no humor, just tons of closeups of DeNiro's odd faux CGI eyes and face. Worth a look but do not expect too much.
As I watched this movie, I was really thinking of two things. How glad I am not a part of that world, where even a little store that sells fur coats has to pay off some creep from out of state, and how the world would be better off if every character depicted in the film, even the wives, were blown to bits at one of the parties they all intended.
The only upbeat part of this film is, like the "Godfather" and "Goodfellas", is every single character gets what's coming to him.