One of Scorsese's Finest

Rating: 10/10 (25 November 2019)

This film was a surprisingly subdued character study. Yes it's a mob film, but it's not about the mob, it's about the characters, Frank 'The Irishman' Sheeran (Robert De Niro), Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino), and Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci). There's a lot of subtle character development, and a lot of context is provided to understand the characters and the point of the story, hence the 3 and a half hour runtime. But all that context is necessary, and every scene was necessary so I believe the runtime is justified. This film honestly feels like a novel, it's not a story about one topic, it's a story that encompasses one man's entire life. The writing is superb, the directing and cinematography are fantastic, the acting is top notch, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and especially Joe Pesci. It was so good to see him back in a film because he's pretty much retired at this point, but Scorsese convinced him to come back for one last film and I'm so glad we got one more amazing performance from this legend. He's so subtle, quiet, and yet very threatening, like he's going to have your entire family murdered if you cross him.
Martin Scorsese is one of my favorite filmmakers, he's very inspirational to me, and into his 70s, not only has this guy not had a misstep yet, but he's still making top quality films this late in his career. This is one of the year's best films, please see it as soon as you can. I hope this one gets a lot of well deserved award recognition from The Academy.