Viced
Joined Jun 2010
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Viced's rating
Reviews2
Viced's rating
After anticipating this like a madman for nearly a decade, I'm glad to confirm that all my hopes and dreams came true and it's a masterpiece.
The storytelling structure is mostly in the same vein as GoodFellas and Casino, but with much more room to breathe (which makes sense when you consider the runtime). Less needle drops, more contemplation. Many brilliant scenes, some very intense moments, an insane amount of hilarious moments... and of course Scorsese directs the absolute hell out of it.
Frank Sheeran, while being a bit of an enigma, is easily the most introspective Scorsese mob character ever. And the final 30 minutes or so are an aftermath we've never seen before in a Scorsese crime film.
And De Niro, Pacino, and Pesci are all absolutely brilliant. The talk of De Niro being internal and Pacino being external was kind of right, but De Niro also has many funny, charismatic, and noticeably intense moments. Arguably his best moment comes in what may be the most awkward phone conversation in the history of film. Pacino, as you'd expect, nails all of the Hoffa speeches but also has rarely been this funny. And flawlessly portrays Hoffa's desperation (or... brazen lack thereof). Pesci is nowhere near the "go f- your mother mode" many were probably expecting. He's kind of the wise old man of the movie, while also being an ice cold mob boss. If he stays in retirement after this, it'll certainly be one of the GOAT swan songs. The film heavily relies on Sheeran's relationship with both Hoffa and Bufalino, and it wouldn't succeed nearly as well as it does without these three actors.
Stephen Graham, Bobby Cannavale, and the legend Harvey Keitel are the only other cast members that really get a chance to shine... and they all bring it with limited screentime.
And enough can't be said about Thelma's editing here. The film somehow flies by while also feeling like a lifetime... Frank's lifetime. I'm not sure the power of the final act would hit quite as hard if you weren't somewhat exhausted by everything that came before it.
The culmination of many careers, and a film for the ages.
The storytelling structure is mostly in the same vein as GoodFellas and Casino, but with much more room to breathe (which makes sense when you consider the runtime). Less needle drops, more contemplation. Many brilliant scenes, some very intense moments, an insane amount of hilarious moments... and of course Scorsese directs the absolute hell out of it.
Frank Sheeran, while being a bit of an enigma, is easily the most introspective Scorsese mob character ever. And the final 30 minutes or so are an aftermath we've never seen before in a Scorsese crime film.
And De Niro, Pacino, and Pesci are all absolutely brilliant. The talk of De Niro being internal and Pacino being external was kind of right, but De Niro also has many funny, charismatic, and noticeably intense moments. Arguably his best moment comes in what may be the most awkward phone conversation in the history of film. Pacino, as you'd expect, nails all of the Hoffa speeches but also has rarely been this funny. And flawlessly portrays Hoffa's desperation (or... brazen lack thereof). Pesci is nowhere near the "go f- your mother mode" many were probably expecting. He's kind of the wise old man of the movie, while also being an ice cold mob boss. If he stays in retirement after this, it'll certainly be one of the GOAT swan songs. The film heavily relies on Sheeran's relationship with both Hoffa and Bufalino, and it wouldn't succeed nearly as well as it does without these three actors.
Stephen Graham, Bobby Cannavale, and the legend Harvey Keitel are the only other cast members that really get a chance to shine... and they all bring it with limited screentime.
And enough can't be said about Thelma's editing here. The film somehow flies by while also feeling like a lifetime... Frank's lifetime. I'm not sure the power of the final act would hit quite as hard if you weren't somewhat exhausted by everything that came before it.
The culmination of many careers, and a film for the ages.
Michael R. Roskam burst onto the scene a few years back with "Bullhead" which was deservedly nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
In his first English language, American film, Roskam works with a script by the great author Dennis Lehane to tell the story of Brooklyn bartender Bob, waitress Nadia, has-been Cousin Marv, and the mysterious Eric Deeds.
The plot of "The Drop" has been done before to various degrees, and Lehane's script was surprisingly predictable. Although the material wasn't particularly fresh, the actors and a few strong scenes make it worthwhile.
Hardy, although a bit inconsistent, delivers a quietly great performance. You just want to give the guy a hug. Gandolfini is unsurprisingly fantastic in his final big screen performance. He plays to perfection a middle aged has-been that's ticked off with what his life has become. The direction they took with his character was predictable and left me very disappointed, but I'm happy that his last performance was this good. Noomi Rapace arguably gave the best performance in the film, and probably the best supporting actress I've seen so far this year. She does a great job playing a damaged woman trying to lead a good life, and her scenes with Hardy (and the dog!) are some of the best of the movie. Schoenaerts (who was sensational in Roskam's Bullhead) is good, but not given too much to do with a one-dimensional character. And the dog! Rocco! One of the all-time great dog performances in my opinion.
The movie is also really funny at times (mainly Gandolfini in the first half hour and Hardy with the dog). It drags a bit at times, and like I said above the script could have been a lot better.... but it's still a very good movie that easily could have been a great one with a few changes. I'll still see it again, and I'm sure it will stay in my top 10 of the year.
And as a huge fan of James Gandolfini, I'm sad to say this is the last time we'll ever see him on the big screen. But I'm happy that Roskam did him justice with one last great performance. RIP to one of the all-time greats.
In his first English language, American film, Roskam works with a script by the great author Dennis Lehane to tell the story of Brooklyn bartender Bob, waitress Nadia, has-been Cousin Marv, and the mysterious Eric Deeds.
The plot of "The Drop" has been done before to various degrees, and Lehane's script was surprisingly predictable. Although the material wasn't particularly fresh, the actors and a few strong scenes make it worthwhile.
Hardy, although a bit inconsistent, delivers a quietly great performance. You just want to give the guy a hug. Gandolfini is unsurprisingly fantastic in his final big screen performance. He plays to perfection a middle aged has-been that's ticked off with what his life has become. The direction they took with his character was predictable and left me very disappointed, but I'm happy that his last performance was this good. Noomi Rapace arguably gave the best performance in the film, and probably the best supporting actress I've seen so far this year. She does a great job playing a damaged woman trying to lead a good life, and her scenes with Hardy (and the dog!) are some of the best of the movie. Schoenaerts (who was sensational in Roskam's Bullhead) is good, but not given too much to do with a one-dimensional character. And the dog! Rocco! One of the all-time great dog performances in my opinion.
The movie is also really funny at times (mainly Gandolfini in the first half hour and Hardy with the dog). It drags a bit at times, and like I said above the script could have been a lot better.... but it's still a very good movie that easily could have been a great one with a few changes. I'll still see it again, and I'm sure it will stay in my top 10 of the year.
And as a huge fan of James Gandolfini, I'm sad to say this is the last time we'll ever see him on the big screen. But I'm happy that Roskam did him justice with one last great performance. RIP to one of the all-time greats.
