(Above image taken from TheMovieDB.org)
[SPOILER ALERT]
+ For those who have seen a Scorsese film before, Casino won't present many new ideas. But what it does present is compelling with every part of the film's plotting, locations, characters etc. being purposeful in the grand scheme of the narrative e.g. we see the grocer near the beginning of the film which ends up being a key part in the FBI toppling much of the criminal underbelly surrounding Ace (De Niro) and Nicky (Pesci).
+ Excellent performances (as you would expect from its star-studded cast). I particularly thought the scene between Ace and his wife, Ginger (Stone), where they're yelling and screaming at each other after she calls Nicky to kill Ace was notably powerful.
+ Great cinematography; not exactly mind-blowing, but certainly varied and competently executed with a wide spectrum of shot composition and lighting - there's a lot of smokiness and grittiness surreptitiously and fittingly hidden behind the alluring veneer of Las Vegas.
+ An absolutely killer soundtrack, stuffed to the brim with good licensed music choices which never feel out of place.
+ Despite its almost three-hour runtime, the film never seems slow or boring in any capacity.
+ Subverting expectations with Pesci's death using the motif of the
voice-over narration. Pesci monologues up until the point he gets
smacked in the back with a baseball bat. After this, he and his
brother are brutally killed by their former crew. The film cleverly
makes you think Pesci survives like Ace does by using the voice-over, but nope.
? / - This is likely just a personal thing, but sometimes I found keeping track of all the 'players' in the film difficult, to the point where the death of some characters like Andy Stone (King) and Bernie Blue (McCormick) lack any 'oomph' and made me question whether or not they had been properly developed at all, as well as their part or significance in the rest of the story.
? / - Ace's survival seems very convenient (a metal plate under the driver's seat in his specific model of car); then again, much of the narrative hinges on tiny little details causing the criminal 'house of cards' to collapse, which Ace comments on in one of his many narratorial segments. Besides, a lot of the occurrences in this film are based on real events, and Ace's (in the real world, 'Lefty''s) luckiness with the metal place under the car seat is allegedly true.
- While the death of Nicky was pretty strong in how it was presented from a meta standpoint (a.k.a. the cut-off monologue thing), the death of his brother Dominick? Not so much. Maybe we're not supposed to care about that character an awful amount but, again, it's one of those instances where the film, despite its carefulness, falters a bit in not developing certain characters enough.
Overall: A typical Scorsese-ian film (in a good way), with careful pacing, solid acting and a detailed narrative that earns its long runtime - even if its extensive world-building can get confusing at times (at least, on a first watch-through).
Comments
Post a Comment