The Irishman Review
R: Pervasive language and strong violence
Runtime: 3 Hours and 29 Minutes
Production Companies: Fábrica de Cine, STX Entertainment, Sikelia Productions, Tribeca Productions
Distributor: Netflix
Director: Martin Scorsese
Writer: Steven Zaillian
Cast: Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel, Bobby Cannavale, Al Pacino, Ray Romano, Stephen Graham, Kathrine Narducci, Anna Paquin, Jeremy Luke, Jesse Plemons
Release Date: November 1, 2019 (In Theaters) | November 27, 2019 (Streaming)
The Irishman is the Ben-Hur of gangster movies and not just in terms of runtime. The story is biblical with themes of loyalty, trust, and betrayal as it follows a man completely desensitized to violence due to his involvement in WWII. He’s taken under the wing of Pennsylvania mafia boss Russell Bufalino (Pesci) and becomes his entrusted colleague. As the relationship between them grows stronger, he’s enlisted as protection to the aggressively short-tempered, stubborn but likable politician, Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino), whom he also forms a close friendship with. Frank’s loyalty gets tested and he must face the music when conflict brews between his besties.
Of course, he had to do it to ‘em. He just had to do it to ‘em. Martin Scorsese was just chillin’ on his cloud high above in the heavens, watching the fools in Hollywood as they made inadequate crime movies, using de-aging effects as a means to showcase how great their technology is, but not use it as a means to tell a compelling story. Now, Scorsese has dropped down from the heavens, struck his lightning bolt at the industry via the good people at Netflix, and made the best—if not THE—definitive gangster flick of the decade.
I’m just picturing Martin Scorsese waiting patiently while pleb filmmakers took their best crack at making memorable crime/gangster movies, but alas none of them could rise up to the ranks of Scorsese’s legendary entries. Just when you thought he was done and out, Marty delivered the latest trick up his sleeve: The Irishman, a classically styled crime movie featuring state of the art de-aging technology to (for the first time this goddamn year) help tell an incredibly developed story.
For a man who claims Marvel isn’t cinema, I envision his creation of this movie to be similar to the finale of Thor: Ragnarok. Just envision the Academy as Hela, Netflix as Thor, and Scorsese as Ragnarok.
One major turn-off for any sane person would be the film’s runtime. Clocking in at three hours and 30 minutes, the movie flows like a breeze. Granted, you know you must take time out of your day for it, but you don’t really feel it. As the film delves into Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran’s life story, it establishes an upbeat, energetic, eccentric tone that never drives away. Don’t get me wrong, it’s incredibly dark and features brutal scenes of bloody violence, but the film boasts a charismatic energy that benefits the pacing. I don’t know if this qualifies as a comedy, but damn this was one of my favorite laugh-out-loud movies of this year—funnier than most 2019 comedies in a Wolf of Wall Street type of way. Comedy can affect the pacing of your feature and when it's done right, your movie can flow fluently. That said, damn does this feature some of the best comedic sequences of the year. Light and funny is the way to go. The tone is dark and twisted in the lines of a straightforward gangster flick, but it’s also incredibly funny with unforgettable bits that actually help progress the story. Scorsese is masterful when it comes to dark comedy, and while it never rises up to the ranks of something as memorable as the Lemmon sequence in Wolf of Wall Street, there are *in the voice of one David Sims* great bits throughout.
The ensemble of legends is, to no surprise, fan-fucking-tastic. DeNiro’s Frank is well written with thorough precision and a background that gives this figure with a familiar archetype his own individual weight, but he’s classic DeNiro through and through. He’s playing the type and he’s great, but everyone revolving around his world manages to steal the limelight… and boy are they phenomenal. While DeNiro is the sole lead and delivers a good performance, the two that radiate the most are the supporting characters, specifically Al Pacino and Joe Pesci. Right when the film ended, I turned to my friend/colleague Shea Vassar and we both said, in unison, “Joe Pesci. Joe goddamn Pesci, man.”
It’s been over a decade since Pesci had presence in a major movie and I swear to God, the man must’ve gone to some kind of retreat, incorporated some meditation regimen or something because his performance as Russell Bufalino is a rare return to form that I didn’t anticipate and was completely blown away by. Growing up watching Pesci as he screamed his way through the ‘90s with a short temper—whether it be in a kids’ movie or an adult movie—he was known for his onscreen tantrums (and in-person bluntness). Here he’s calm, collected, and dignified yet intimidating as hell. Scorsese depicts Bufalino as a powerful mob boss who has the authority to carry out mass killings, but at the same time… you enjoy him as a person? He’s so dark yet so charming where you’re scared of him but wouldn’t feel too uncomfortable to grab lunch with him. You don’t want to cross him, but he’s good-natured and well-intentioned that you must be a huge prick to piss him off in the first place. He’s chaotic neutral but also has the power to be chaotic evil. Wait, you know what? I just realized why I love Pesci and this character so much: his patience. Bufalino appears to have the greatest patience in the world and it really does take a self-absorbed obnoxious prick just to get on his bad side. Rarely do you see Pesci show any form of patience in his characters, but seeing him exhibit that here, putting your heart on edge, seals his incredible performance.
Then, you have Pacino as politician Jimmy Hoffa who bursts in at 100% with energy and bravado. Boasting a charismatic personality with ‘90s Pesci-style temper tantrums that are on Jerry Springer-levels of insanity, Pacino is mesmerizing as you watch him involve himself in the political circuit. He goes from being loved and on top of the world to watching as it all crashes down, with Frank being in the epicenter of it all.
Both of them are running circles around DeNiro. They are the frigging gatekeepers of the awards season for Best Supporting Actor, for they are two heavy-hitting juggernauts who will be at each other's throats for awards like The Angry Beavers in their intro.
Apologies to Brad Pitt, but these two dudes got the Best Supporting Actor noms in the bag. My money is on Pesci, which is going to be awesome because when he wins, we're gonna have a fun wave of 5-second speeches. He's like Ferb or Ice Bear: a man of few words. We love a blunt king.
2019 brought forth a crowd of big-budget films using de-aging effects. While some were more successful than others, The Irishman is the ONLY movie that uses the advanced technology technique to give weight to an epic story. The effects are friggin’ seamless. If you're impressed by young Sam Jackson in Captain Marvel, wait ‘til you see the three phases of De Niro, Pacino, and Pesci. Captain Marvel walked so The Irishman could run. The CGI is seamless, especially on DeNiro. I kept using the Focker movies as a reference for the stages/chapters of DeNiro.
The running time is warranted as it hits all the beats of gangster movies, but triumphs through its fleshed out characters and contemplative story with dimension and it’s own personality. It follows a narrative format similar to Wolf of Wall Street, including the fourth wall break and meta-humor. Give Scorsese’s longtime editor and collaborator Thelma Schoonmaker her deserved awards already for having the ablility and talent to give something with this significant amount of length a fast pace.
At the end of the day, it’s classic Scorsese. From his craftsmanship to the powerful storytelling and usage of modern-day technology intended to give authenticity to an epic tale. This is quality filmmaking at its finest, especially when compared to the big juggernauts of the year. This is a fantastic display of how visual effects should be used.
In the first portion of the story a powerfully established subplot regarding the relationship between Frank and his daughter Peggy is introduced where she is the only person in his family who sees him as the brutal, terrorizing monster that he is and what he’s capable of at a young age. That progresses into something less powerful and takes a comedic route when there was an opportunity for it to develop into something a little less obvious and something more emotionally meaningful. The route it takes is completely underwhelming to an extent that I felt like it wasted the older version of that character, which is Anna Paquin. A majority of Peggy’s presence is used to serve discerning looks to her dad. While at first it’s funny on the scale of something you would definitely want to make memes out of, the impact really dwindles down.
I initially thought some comedic scenes could’ve been cut for time purposes and it’s apparent when they’re ad-libbed, but at the same time, they’re fucking hilarious.
For a 3.5-hour movie, there is never a dull moment. Even if it treads some routine scenes of business conversations between crime bosses, it has some type of innovation around the corner to take you by surprise or go in depth with these characters and the dynamics they share. Of course, Scorsese pulled a salt bae of a gangster movie at the end of the decade. He looked down from his cloud and dropped the most epic gangster movie of the decade to show these fuckers how it’s done. The Irishman is an epic saga and one of the definitive flicks of the genre in the 2010s.
