The Irishman
Year: 2019
Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino & Joe Pesci
Runtime: 210 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 05/05/20 (Legacy Review)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino & Joe Pesci
Runtime: 210 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 05/05/20 (Legacy Review)
So I finally got around to watching The Irishman and I have to wonder what all the fuss was about. It depicts the life of real life gangster Frank Sheeran (De Niro) from joining forces with a Philadelphia crime family in his younger years, until his final days in a retirement home.
Was it great to see Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, and other great gangster film legends of the day back for another film? Yes. Is the de-aging CGI incredible? Yes. Was it actually an engaging film that was fun to watch? Not really.
See The Irishman comes in at just shy of 3 and a half hours, to justify a film being so long you really need to make every scene special. But instead, The Irishman either needed to be an hour shorter and cut some of the many bloated scenes down, or it needed to be a miniseries to be digested in more viewer friendly chunks. It’s great to see a story take its time to be told, but half of the reason the film is so damn long is because the camera lingers on something for too long, or conversations are drawn out with no purpose other than to make the dialogue seem more natural.
Director Martin Scorcesse has never been one to play by the rules of cinema, he does what he wants and that’s why we love him. So it doesn’t surprise me that The Irishman is how it is, but does it make for an enjoyable viewing experience? I’d argue you’re better served by just watching one of his other classic gangster films that are more concise and paced better than The Irishman.
Was it great to see Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, and other great gangster film legends of the day back for another film? Yes. Is the de-aging CGI incredible? Yes. Was it actually an engaging film that was fun to watch? Not really.
See The Irishman comes in at just shy of 3 and a half hours, to justify a film being so long you really need to make every scene special. But instead, The Irishman either needed to be an hour shorter and cut some of the many bloated scenes down, or it needed to be a miniseries to be digested in more viewer friendly chunks. It’s great to see a story take its time to be told, but half of the reason the film is so damn long is because the camera lingers on something for too long, or conversations are drawn out with no purpose other than to make the dialogue seem more natural.
Director Martin Scorcesse has never been one to play by the rules of cinema, he does what he wants and that’s why we love him. So it doesn’t surprise me that The Irishman is how it is, but does it make for an enjoyable viewing experience? I’d argue you’re better served by just watching one of his other classic gangster films that are more concise and paced better than The Irishman.