“The Irishman” Movie Review

    I have been waiting to see Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” since it was announced.  I have to admit that I was surprised to learn that it was going to be a Netflix film since Scorsese is such an old school filmmaker.  I will fully admit that on Tuesday night, I stayed up so I could watch the film (although at roughly three and a half hours, I ended up having to finish it in the morning).  This film has received wide spread acclaim so I had to see if the film is really the masterpiece it is being made out to be.

    The film tells the story of Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran and his connections to the Mafia and the labor unions under the leadership of the infamous Jimmy Hoffa.  Sheeran gets his start in the criminal underworld working under Mafia boss Russell Bufalino.  Sheeran quickly gains favor with Russell and becomes one of this most loyal hitmen.  Bufalino introduces Frank to Jimmy Hoffa and the pair become friends shortly after their introduction.  Frank becomes Hoffa’s primary bodyguard while he is head of the Teamsters.  The film chronicles Frank’s torn loyalty to his friend Hoffa and his boss Bufalino as Hoffa begins to clash with the Mafia families who helped him rise to power.

    Let me start this review by stating that this movie is long.  That isn’t to say the film doesn’t make the best of every second or that I necessarily think it would have been better if they edited the film down, but at the three and a half hour long runtime, it is still difficult to take it all in during one sitting (I couldn’t even manage to do so).  One advantage to this being a Netflix film is that it is possible to pause it and come back to it if you have to take a bathroom break without missing any of the film.  I would recommend taking a bathroom break roughly one hour into the film right before Jimmy Hoffa is introduced (it makes for a good intermission in my opinion).

    The film definitely feels more like a classic Martin Scorsese film in the vain of “Goodfellas” and “Casino”.  Scorsese is definitely the master of the Mafia epics and this film joins the long list of his classics.  Scorsese has always been a very visual storyteller and this film is greatly enhanced by his eye for detail.  The depiction of Detroit, Michigan during the mid 70s was very accurate for instance.

    What makes “The Irishman” so captivating is it’s performances.  Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci all deliver powerhouse performances in this character driven motion picture.  Robert De Niro knocks it out of the park as Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran right on the heels of his standout performance in “Joker”.

    In a supporting role, Al Pacino is the best he has been in years.  Pacino’s Jimmy Hoffa is a charismatic leader without the foresight to know when to quit.  It was nice to see Al Pacino actually care about a role for a change.  It was great seeing Pacino and De Niro’s natural chemistry together on screen.  Rounding out the main cast was Joe Pesci.  Pesci has famously been retired for years and had turned down several projects before Martin Scorsese was able to persuade him out of retirement.  On a side note, I thought it was interesting seeing someone playing David Ferrie in this film was a bit distracting considering Joe Pesci famously played Ferrie in the movie “JFK”.

    The film digitally de-aged it’s three lead actors for several scenes fairly successfully.  There were only a few scenes with an uncanny valley effect but it was primarily with De Niro’s scenes and it was one of the best uses of de-aging technology overall I have seen to this date.

    “The Irishman” deserves the acclaim it has received and is a return to form for many of the actors headlining the film.  Though the runtime makes it feel a bit more like a mini-series than a movie, it is an excellent character study.  If you have a free afternoon (or day), “The Irishman” is worth the watch.

Grade: A-