Too loud, too long, too familiar

Rating: 7/10 (9 December 2019)

As well as Scorsese's own previous trips down Mafia Memory Lane, two other obvious comparisons come rapidly to mind: Coppola's GODFATHER trilogy, which highlighted the Mafia involvement in trade unions, and Oliver Stone's JFK, which detailed the Mob's role in Kennedy's election and his execution.
So, ground already covered and in similar detail. The 'novelty' here is the use of CGI to de-age the principal actors rather than have two players for each role. The de-aging of De Niro is fairly flawless, but Pacino's looks a bit weird and Pesci's (he seems to have been aged rather than de-aged) looks more like plasticine prosthetics. De Niro plays Sheeran much as he played Vito Corleone, a family man exterior masking a ruthless killer. Pesci gives us his familiar slightly shrill gangster "shtick". Pacino (who was so subtle in THE GODFATHER, shading from war hero to monster) is in shouty overdrive, reminding you of how loud (and how good!) he was in De Palma's SCARFACE. His Hoffa behaves like the president of a country rather than a union, but that's probably how Jimmy Hoffa was, another kind of gangster.
THE IRISHMAN is loud and crude, way too long. It takes us into territory we've seen before, but it's also very watchable, very absorbing. I hope they aren't, but these may be "swansong" performances from some of the finest actors of the last half-century.