The Irishman

⭐ 9/10

The first time I watched this it felt way too long, and I think I might have even fallen asleep.  This is a slow and very long movie that you kind of need to be in the mood for, and post-Casino I was all in. I think this movie is incredible, and despite loving Killers of the Flower Moon this movie will probably be remembered as the true final chapter of Scorcese's career.

We have Pacino, DeNiro, and Pesci, so right away we are in good hands.  I love seeing Pesci as the stoic boss, since he is always the hothead.  All their characters feel like continuations on characters we have seen before, so Pesci is all the more intimidating since we know how he can fly off the handle. DeNiro is fine, honestly a bit flat for a reason I will get to, but Pacino is great, totally forgot how out of control he is in this. 3 greats giving great performances in roles they are super confident in.

The elephant in the room here is the de-aging.  It is so distracting, especially for DeNiro.  I have no idea what age they want him to look throughout, and it changes, but whatever it is he always looks like an old man.  They are walking and you can just tell he is an old man, and he's probably supposed to be like 25 at points here. Guess they couldn't de-age his old man massive ears and nose?  We are just so familiar with young DeNiro there is no way they could get around it.  I have an idea - cast a young actor!  We can follow along as they age I promise.

Despite this flaw I still think this is an incredible depiction of aging, especially because we have this catalog of Goodfellas and Casino and other movies where these actors are flying high.  Those movies don't glorify being a gangster, but it certainly looks cool, and this movie puts the nail in coffin.  These men are deranged and inhuman, and these codes they live by are meaningless when everything is gone and you have to reckon with your life.  I think that's kind of every Scorcese movie, and no one ends up happy. The final 30 minutes of this movie are so stoic and powerful, really feels like the characters, actors and director thinking back on their whole lives and what it amounts to. The final scene is so moving to me, and again its because of the complete history we have seen through Scorcese's films and the performances of these actors, specifically DeNiro.

There is a silent daughter character here that got criticism at the time because she has no lines. I think that's valid, but its also incredibly haunting as we watch this girl grow up and understand what a monster her unassuming father is. We have empathy for him, but that silent gaze and the judgement we feel snaps us right back to reality. He really has no justification for doing what he does. He is morally bankrupt, and the finale is so effective because we know it and he knows it.

Glad I chose to rewatch this, but I wouldn't recommend it unless Goodfellas or Casino is fresh in your head. I think its cool that a bunch of his movies are riffs on the same themes, and they change over time, but I can see it feeling repetitive to some.

I can't explain it, but I think Joe Pesci looks like my grandma, and that made this movie better.