The Band, together again, worth every minute.

Rating: 9/10 (10 December 2019)

The ticket of admission (or streaming fee) in this case is not to watch a gangster movie. It is to watch a Scorsese movie with De Niro, Pacino, Pesci, Keitel... The Band, together again. It's like visiting an art gallery or a museum because it shows work of a particular artist. And when you know it's 3.5 hours long, you prepare accordingly. Simple as that.
The Irishman is the onscreen faithful version of a book, a book that recorded actual history and actual persons but offers a conclusion that is not proven to be as depicted. Nobody knows what happened to Jimmy Hoffa. The ending of the book and the movie is a possible version of history. The characters, each and every one is delivered in masterful portrayals. Absolutely enthralling and totally believable, interesting and disarming. Except Hoffa. Pacino does a superb job as Jimmy Hoffa but, without holding it against him, Pacino's Hoffa is not the Hoffa we know from historical photographs and documentaries. Nicholson's (1992) Hoffa was more true-to-life (sorry, Mr. Pacino).
The de-aging software did not bother me any more than makeup does in any movie, to age or de-age. It's what it is. You know it's "make-up", so, see it as part of the "wardrobe".
Scorsese's oeuvre is true to form but there is no innovation, no auteur's new signature that was not already established in Goodfellas (1990) or Casino (1995). In fact, I do believe I would rate Casino higher than The Irishman. The several references to the Kennedys serve also as Scorsese's way of establishing that the gangster culture seen in his films is not the exception in the shadows but the norm in the mainstream of our society. Martin Scorsese, from Taxi Driver (1976) to Raging Bull (1980) to Goodfellas (1990) to Casino (1995), to The Departed (2006), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) is showing us that crime, gangs and organized crime is not just somewhere out there but it is everywhere, at a every level, an integral part of how society functions. Wit The Irishman his statement uses a Union boss with mob connections that was, as the film claims, as big as The Beatles in his time.
What The Irishman has that Goodfellas and Casino do not have to the extent we see it here, is the study of the protagonist's character, the look into Frank Sheeran's soul in the last sequence of the film. And yes, it was necessary to watch the first 180 minutes in order to fully feel and understand the last twenty minutes ( the film is three hours thirty minutes including ten minutes of end titles).
How does this man feel about the life he led? Is there remorse? Is there introspection? Is there guilt or salvation? Is there a forgiving God? The Irishman is indeed about the last twenty minutes and I thank Mr. Scorsese and the gang for taking me through the first 180 minutes. Although all the devices and brilliant, masterful Direction were honed in the earlier movies, what is new in this latest Scorsese offering was the depth of the study of the character at the end of his life.
And this is where Mr. De Niro's performance becomes the equivalent of Itzhak Perlman performing Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto. Those last twenty minutes is the soloist's finest moment under the watchful eye of conductor Scorsese.