A Hoffa You Can't Refuse?

Rating: 3/10 (29 November 2019)

This plays like a warmed-over collection of Scorsese's greatest hits-the long tracking shots, the voiceover, the script which has every character speaking the same way (not just the same as everyone else in the movie, but the same as everyone in every Scorsese movie), the masterful but repetitive scenes of violence. The two supposed driving forces of the film are never fully justified, those being Sheeran's motivation for being a hitman, and his daughter's extreme disdain for him. The justification for Sheeran's life of violence seems to be nothing more than his wartime experience, where "I seen things, man. I seen things." Peggy's dislike for her father is shown to be due to his penchant for brutality and spontaneous violence. She transfers that to Russ as well, presumably because her father works for him and he has the same tendencies. But then she becomes completely infatuated with Hoffa, who is cut from the exact same cloth as the other two, the only difference being he buys her ice cream. The fact that this movie is phoned-in Scorsese does not mean it isn't fun to watch, although it really drags the last 45 minutes or so, as we wait for the main characters to die off, the only saving grace being being our relief in knowing that they can finally shut off that damn CGI machine.