The Great Re-Union

Rating: 9/10 (27 December 2019)

I deliberately avoided reading reviews of this film as I wanted to discover it for myself. I knew Scorsese had assembled a classic cast, and it would be familiar mafia territory, but beyond that I really didn't know what to expect.
I'm not a huge Scorsese fan, but I recognise his ability to make great films. It took me a while to muster the enthusiasm to sit through a film of this length that would no doubt be yet another glorification of the seedy side of humanity (Wolf of Wall Street is bordering on evil with the way it glorifies the very worst of us), yet this was a piece of brilliance.
De Niro is wonderfully pensive and human throughout. Pascino nails the part of the manic but paranoid Hoffa. Between him and De Niro we get a beautiful display of emotional interaction featuring the greatest actors of their generation. Pascino gets to chew the scenery, but De Niro offers the perfect foil of the concerned onlooker that knows where his friend's actions will lead to. They were together for seconds in Heat, but this was the real coming together I've longed to see.
Intertwined within all of this is Pesci. He hardly says or does something throughout the film, but that's what makes his performance so superb. I think that part of it is Scorsese choosing an actor so well known for his aggression. We don't need to see it in action because we know it's there under the surface. The dead eyes, the assertive but calming words, the intent communicated with the minimum of facial expressions - he represents the unspoken power of the mob like an oracle.
I had no idea that this was a film primarily about Jimmy Hoffa. I've been intrigued by that story for many years, and it reeled me in at lightning speed. The A-List performers all turning up and striking gold with every hit simply left me smiling and appreciative. Thank you to all involved.