MovieChat Forums > Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) Discussion > Great Acting (Gladstone and De Niro), Mi...

Great Acting (Gladstone and De Niro), Mid Tier Scorcese (No Spoilers Overview)

posted a year ago by GenoWashingline (872)
4 replies | jump to latest

Started off excellently, first 45 mins were Great. I thought I was watching a masterpiece.

Then the 2nd hour just seemed to lose its way to me, and I lost a fair bit of interest. The movie became rather flat and repetitive. ...I can see a lot of 'casual' movie goers tapping out after that 2nd hour.

The 3rd Hour stepped up some what when Plimmons turns up, but still doesn't reach the heights of the first 45 mins.

And that last 10 mins is a bit quirky for sure...

As soon as the credits (at 3 hours and 17 mins, the credits are 7 mins) started my whole audience seemed to run out to get to the loo, except me.

Gladstone and De Niro were very impressive, I have never been a fan of Di Caprio and he didn't impress me much here either...Plimmons would have been perfect for that part really.

I haven't seen De Niro like that in maybe 20 or more years, was great to see (he was good in The Irishman, but it was a very "empty" character in a world full of big characters, he really does some acting here).

For me it's mid tier Scorcese, at best, that 2nd hour really pulls it down for me...But I do hope he makes more movies, and it still felt like a "cinematic event" to me, albeit a somewhat disappointing one ( I had Very High expectations).

7/10

[–] SlackerInc (1101) a year ago

Bummer no one has replied to this after five days! You are the only person I've seen so far, in reading a LOT of online comments here and elsewhere, who had the exact same reaction I did: that the first 45 minutes seemed like a masterpiece (I guess because of the worldbuilding?) but that it became plodding and repetitive after that. I had characterized it as "the first hour", but it might have been only 45 minutes, not sure.

[–] GenoWashingline (872) a year ago

Cheers,

Yeah ,I would say approximately the first 45-60 minutes.

I have since seen it a second time, and pretty much stick by my original posting, and can now add a bit of further detail as to why...

That 2nd hour gets so unfocussed particularly with the lengthy parts about 'the car insurance scam' and 'the alcoholic guy'. Yes they are part of the story, but seem to have far too much screen time....A.lot.of that time is De Niro telling Di Caprio to get something done, and then Di Caprio passing on the message to someone else to get that something done etc...And the characters he talks to are not very interesting, for some reason.

The movie also just becomes quite a typical 'Crime Movie' then for the rest of the movie (apart from.that last 10.mins, which actually worked better for me in the 2nd viewing as not so jarring now).

[–] BrandNewPoster (10996) a year ago

I rated 8/10, but I agree with your comments. Excellent acting, but not top tier Scorsese.

[–] PayMeScorsese (42) a year ago

This film goes in circles. It's rambling from Scorsese, the only consistency is that he loves focusing on Ernest (the least interesting character of the cast) for some indulgent reason. And at the end of the day, it's just plain boring. People are not really discussing it with enthusiasm, they have respect and admiration sure, but for all of its hype it's a letdown. Half of my theatre had left after 2hrs and the other half fell asleep (snoring loudly). The book is amazing, this movie for some reason wants to defy everything that made the book engaging and interesting.