Michael's Movie Grade: C
An okay mobster film.
This movie tries very hard to be like the Martin Scorsese mobster film. It doesn't fully succeed at this but that doesn't make this a bad movie. There is a lot to like about this movie. I love the stylistic choice of having certain scenes play as if we are watching a documentary that includes interviews of real gangster. I also loved the use of black and white in some of the early scenes. This gave those scenes the feeling of watching an old prohibition era gangster movie. The look of the movie changes as the decades goes on. The changes between eras are not only stylistically well done but this movie intelligently looks at the changes in American culture over these years and how the change in the culture surround them affects our main characters. The film is based off a true story about the crime bosses Frank Costello and Vito Genovese. This is a fascinating true story that is still fun to watch regardless of the flaws in its telling. The movie also benefits from some great dialogue and some gripping and fun courthouse scenes.
Even at only a little over two hours, it feels overlong and can really drag at times and having Robert DeNiro play two roles is more distracting than anything. I really don't understand the thought process between having the same actor play both of these rival gangsters. This is not a Great Dictator (1940) situation, where this choice has any bearing on the story. The characters are not related nor is their resemblance with each other every brought up. At the same time with both characters, it is obvious you are seeing Robert De Niro as he is easily recognizable in both roles. This simply took me out of the movie many times. I also felt that many of the side characters were completely forgettable.
This is a very flawed gangster film, but it is still enjoyable despite this.
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