At the turn of the 20th century, oil brought a fortune to the Osage Nation, who became some of the richest people in the world overnight. The wealth of these Native Americans immediately attracted white interlopers, who manipulated, extorted, and stole as much Osage money as they could before resorting to murder. Based on a true story and told through the improbable romance of Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone), “Killers of the Flower Moon” is an epic western crime saga, where real love crosses paths with unspeakable betrayal. Also starring Robert De Niro and Jesse Plemons.
What We Thought:
I know I’m in the (honest) minority here when I say I was really disappointed in Killers of the Flower Moon. I was looking forward to it because it’s the latest from the legendary Martin Scorsese and stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. Like The Irishman I knew it was going to be long and its length is the biggest issue I have with it. I’ll explain what I mean, but first I will go over its positives which it does have plenty of.
Of course the acting is top-notch. Scorsese always brings out the best in his cast especially if you’re one of his go-to actors like Leo and Bobby D. Early talk had high praise for Lily Gladstone and yes she’s very good, but she also spends chunks of the film in bed. She’ll get nominated and deservedly so, but I did expect more from her character. The ensemble cast also includes Jesse Plemons, Tantoo Cardinal, John Lithgow, and Brendan Fraser. The acting is not the issue with the film.
There’s also Marty’s direction. Scorsese is one of the kings of cinema for a reason, his films always look beautiful even if I don’t like the actual movie. It opens with Leo on a train and then there’s a classic Scorsese tracking shot through the chaos of the town seeing all different types of people. There’s an overhead tracking shot that follows him to De Niro’s home. It’s all very much a Scorsese looking film from the direction, production value and costuming. The direction and feel of the movie is not the issue with the film.
Then there’s the score. The late Robbie Robertson (another Scorsese collaborator) does the music for it and it’s pretty incredible. The 1920s era setting really shines through with Robertson’s Native beats and scoring. Whether it’s the love story, the gangster story or the trial story, Robertson’s score is always there adding to the drama. The music is not the issue with the film.
That brings us to the story itself. If you go back up slightly you’ll notice I wrote love story, gangster story and trial story. That’s my issue with the film, it’s almost 3 and a half hours long and each hour seems to get its own story. It opens with the introduction of DiCaprio’s character, his relationship to De Niro and ultimately falling for Gladstone’s character. The next hour is a Scorsese gangster flick with Natives being killed, white people going around shooting people and blowing up a house. The third hour is the investigation and trial and whether or not those doing the murdering will get convicted and seeing who will flip on each other. It’s all very much different in terms of tone and you forget about some characters after a while. Gladstone is in bed for a lot of it because of what’s being done to her and you need to remember who is who and who did what earlier in the film. It’s excessive and I personally think it would have been a better mini-series if you want to tell this entire story.
I have other issues with the film, but some of that would be spoilers if you haven’t read the book or don’t know the story. I think Scorsese needed to lean more into the bad guys actually being the bad guys or at least get more of the Native point of view into the film. Despite everything happening around them and who is clearly to blame, they still come across as naive at times interacting and marrying white men over and over again. Even if you don’t know the story, historically you should know the white men are the bad guys in town yet we watch the white men as leads or major characters. Lean into them being monsters only out for money not as family men and people who love their wives. They definitely shouldn’t be the characters the audience is rooting for.
Killers of the Flower Moon will be a movie that critics will have a hard time talking about negatively because it’s going to be nominated for double digit awards and critics like to be part of the hive mind. Leo, De Niro, Gladstone, Scorsese, Robertson will all land nominations along with Best Picture. It will easily crack most top ten year end lists if not top 3. As for my own personal opinion, I’m a big Scorsese guy, but I can’t see myself watching it again especially anytime soon.
The Nerds Templar 