It's good, it's not a masterpiece and there are missed opportunities

Rating: 7/10 (29 November 2019)

It is certainly true that expectations must be managed before seeing this film. It does not have the pace, glamour or visceral violence of Goodfellas or Casino. It has a similar theme and certainly similar cast but it's a different movie. This is much more a character study based around friendship, power and loss of power, loyalty and ultimately mortality. And in those themes the movie succeeds spectacularly in many instances but falls short in others.
Of the three lead roles, Joe Pesci, as Russ Bufalino, delivers the best performance of his career and of the movie. Understated but menacing. Powerful but vulnerable. A desire for family and to be loved (heartbreaking with Franks' daughter) but also disconnected and cold. Beautiful to watch.
Pacino also delivers a great performance as Hoffa. Always interesting, skirting the edge of over the top but never crossing it. A portrayal of blindly clinging to power and reputation against all odds and advice.
I had the biggest issue with De Niro. The CGI is a little odd (sometimes making him look like a weird version of Alec Baldwin) and the bakery assault is not convincing at all (a pity as it's pivotal to his family relationship later on). But the main issue was I did not really connect with the character. Unlike Pesci and Pacino, I ultimately didn't really care what happened to his character. The character was just to compliant, too robotic, too disconnected.
The movie is too long, but it didn't have to be any shorter. Instead it needed to use that extra 90 mins to explore some of the fantastic supporting cast and characters which would have ultimately made the movie much stronger at 3 hrs 30 mins.
Harvey Keitel , Ray Romano and Bobby Cannavale are massively underused, so much so their story and involvement becomes a little confused. Stephen Graham lights up the screen every time as Tony Pro but again, his story is curtailed somewhat.
In addition had Franks family, in particular his daughter played by Anna Paquin, not been sidelined for most of the movie, I might have cared a little more about the final 30 mins.
So all in all, I enjoyed it. Beautifully shot as you would expect from Scorsese. Has a strong feeling of authenticity around 60s mafia life and relationships in the 60s and well acted. But a little self indulgent and could have easily been a 10.