Killers of the Flower Moon – Review
206 Minutes, Rated R
Written by Eric Roth, Martin Scorsese, and David Grann
Directed by Martin Scorsese
**NOTE: You can read Mark’s review below, then listen or watch as he and Ryan discuss the film in more depth. Remember, though, you can listen to all our discussions of this and every other movie directly over on ACAST. Stay tuned.**
Synopsis:
Members of the Osage tribe in the United States are murdered under mysterious circumstances in the 1920s, sparking a major F.B.I. investigation involving J. Edgar Hoover.
This one has been getting all the buzz because, well, it’s Scorsese and DiCaprio and DeNiro, in a drama, a HISTORICAL drama… about the evils of the white man.
Based on true events, Killers of the Flower Moon is a sprawling epic, with a runtime not seen since the Golden Age of Hollywood, when Gone With the Wind, Cleopatra, Lawrence of Arabia… heck, since Scorsese’s own The Irishman just a couple years ago.
It’s long. Let’s get that out of the way. Go to the bathroom before, and don’t bring in a drink.
The film itself is a pretty thing, with some nice choreography, though I found the score to to unremarkable to the point that I honestly don’t remember any of it. Did it have music? Surely, but I’ll be damned if it made an impression.
The performances here are being lauded by most, generally for Lily Gladstone, who is easily the best performance in here as Mollie. Leo is good, DeNiro is… DeNiro. Jesse Plemons comes in for the last third or so of the film and gives his typically solid performance…
But Lily Gladstone… hands down a phenominal performance. Upon reflection, I marvel at how well she conveys so much emotion without showing any emotion. A calm, measures, even-keel portrayal of a woman at odds with her life and her heart, knowing the man she marries is likely out to kill her, but loving him nonetheless.
DiCaprio acts with his jaw pushed forward, giving his speech a restricted feeling, pairing with the implied lack of genius embodied by his uncle, “King” Bill Hale, to provide a character that is simply a vessel for King’s plans and Mollie’s reluctant love, but little more than that.
Turns out DiCaprio’s Earnest Burkhardt has a hernia from his time in the war (that would be the First World War, the War to End All Wars), of which much is made upon his return to his Uncle’s ranch and which is never mentioned again. It has no bearing.
That’s the kind of thing that slows down a film and can derail it later.
DeNiro is playing yet another gangster/mobster, though this one more akin to a South American drug cartel head, buying the affection of his community, in this case the Osage people, by building hospitals, libraries, etc., in order to conduct his dirty dealings with no one suspecting him.
Ruling through love, if you will, not fear.
And definitely not suspicion.
In the face of this, Gladstone’s Mollie is that much more impressive, but it’s not enough.
A Good film. Good, not Great. Not a Masterpiece. Good.
Not to beat a dead horse, but the movie is too god-damned long. And I don’t mean that in a “I cant’ watch a long movie” way, because you’ll recall that I quite enjoyed the 3-hour Oppenheimer just a couple months ago.
What I said then, and I say it now, is that the movie needs to be as long as it needs to be to tell your story. In Oppenheimer‘s case, I said Nolan could have cut 45 minutes from the film, but I don’t begrudge him those 45 minutes.
Scorsese could easily have cut 45 minutes from this film (and more), but I absolutely begrudge him those minutes. The pacing is slow.
Not deliberate: slow.
It’s bogs itself down between narrative guideposts, slowing any dramatic motion with long–damned-near leisurely–camera work, then struggling to break that inertia to move the story along again.
There’s no urgency to the bigger picture, only a sense of vague forboding about what we all know is going to happen, or think we do, at any rate, but Scorsese seems conflicted about actually getting us there.
Then, paradoxically, this bit of cinema which is far too long ends in a rush, with Scosese himself in a cameo to explain where each character ends up during a radioplay sponsored by the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover.
It’s all over the place.
I don’t know that I recommend anyone see this film in theaters. I honestly don’t know if the cost-benefit is there. Normally I’d say it’s worth seeing it on a big screen, but in this case… nah.
Killers of the Flower Moon hits theaters this Friday and stars Lily Gladstone, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert DeNiro, and Jesse Plemons.
And remember, if the BEST thing you can say about a movie is that it’s “visually stunning,” then they’ve done something wrong.
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