Nearly as good as the best

Rating: 10/10 (29 November 2019)

As a massive fan of Scorsese's older gangster movies like GOODFELLAS and CASINO I was eager to see this film, which can be termed a real successor to those all-time classics. While it's not quite on par with those 1990s efforts, it's still a very good and very well made picture that's easily Scorsese's best in the last twenty years or so; a massive improvement over THE WOLF OF WALL STREET and HUGO in any case.
De Niro gives a taciturn performance as the leading gangster and hitman, while Scorsese has done the remarkable job of bringing the great Joe Pesci out of retirement one last time and also stuck the legendary Al Pacino into the picture too. The production values are exemplary and the de-ageing effects more than adequate, although the story takes a little while to get going. The situation with Hoffa really escalates into some powerful moments at the climax. Clearly the work of an older director, this explores themes of regret, violence and ageing with a dark heart at its centre.