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Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

 

Killers of the Flower Moon is the latest from the legendary director Martin Scorsese.

Scorsese has made some of the best movies of all time, from Goodfellas and The Departed to The Irishman. I'm sure it'll come as some surprise that I haven't seen Taxi Driver or Raging Bull, but did you know that Scorsese directed Michael Jackon's music video 'Bad'? This film might take some time for me to enjoy as much as his previous work but I could tell he put a lot of effort into the last act.

The screenplay for the film goes to Scoresese and Eric Roth. Roth was great at writing Dune recently, and Forest Gump earlier in his career. I haven't seen a dud from him and this is no exception. The first act could have been cut down for this chrono-heavy film. 

Leonardo DiCaprio is a superstar but he puts on this stupid expression the entire film. Don't get me wrong I understand why the Scorsese got him to do this, but it still is an eyesore. The trailer says that this is the best film he's ever done. It's far from that but given the person he had to play, it was still pretty good. 

Robert De Niro is another superstar and that goes without saying. He plays his character to the letter, ruthless, aggressive, sinister, and oddly charming. His character knows who he is and leans into the life that was given to him. De Niro doesn't have as much time on screen as DiCaprio and his character's wife. It's really the editing fault for that one as they focused on DiCaprio too much.

John Lithgow and Brendan Frasier both make a surprise and welcome change to the film's bleak interactions between Natives and Americans. There was a long scene with J.C. MacKenzie where he plays a radio announcer that I felt was way too long and unneeded. There are going to be comparisons between this film and Oppenheimer. The latter has much better pacing and that scene will be a prime example. 

The film still has a quality that modern movies just don't have. It's not for everyone, but for movie buffs, it will be on their to-watch list. Result: B+.

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