Serge The Movie Guy’s review published on Letterboxd:
(Short Review)
This will be a somewhat vague review. Truthfully, I saw this on Netflix. It never played anywhere near me (sorry, I tried 🙁). So, I had to wait for it to come to Netflix. There have been times where I've probably overhyped something. Or I saw a movie that I left disappointed because I had different expectations.
With this film, it lived up to everything I heard and then some. Words won't be good enough to explain it to people, it's something you really just have to experience.
The Irishman is an EVENT film and the runtime flew by so quickly because you're immediately wrapped up in the story. It slows down in the final hour, but you're glad it does. You're still invested, and it serves the purpose of the story. You really feel like you've lived a lifetime with these characters. It’s gangster film, but one with an important message about morality, loyalty, and legacy. Looking back at De Nrio and Scorsese’s films they’ve done together, this film feels most appropriate from them to do. Whether they meant to or not, it feels like a reflection of their careers to a certain extent.
Performances are off the charts excellent, the direction is perfect, and the writing alone deserves an award of some kind. Steven Zaillian has written so many films, but this is easily the best he's ever done. The de-aging technology here really stands above the rest when I compare it to recent films that have done this. I really couldn't tell, they looked so young and acted so young as well.
The only real issue I have with this film, if any, is that there are 2 or 3 really sharp edits from someone talking that just felt off. It's one of those edits where you'll probably miss it if you blink. Truthfully, I can look past it since it just so happens to be one of those things only a handful of people will pick up.
Martin Scorsese has been called one of the best American film directors and one of the all-time best directors who ever worked in film.
He still holds that title. Why? Because time and time again his films have proved it. At 77 years old, it still feels like he has yet to peak.
“What kind of man makes a call like that...”
10/10 (A+).
