Rating: 3.5/5
I sure do love money. I almost love it as much as I love my wife.
Oklahoma, 1920s The Osage Nation discovers oil on their land during the annual flower moon. The white residents witness their ascent as the wealthiest people in the USA.
Ernest Burkhart returns from WWI. He does not go back home to his family but to live with his brother Bryon and uncle William Hale. The Osage considers William a friend for how much money he has given the community and for speaking their language.
William exerts a powerful influence on Ernest, who trusts others.
Ernest drives a cab and meets Molly Kyle, an Osage woman. The two fall in love and marry.
Someone murders several wealthy Osage. William reminds Ernest that Molly has headrights and that they should stay in the family. One by one, members of Molly’s family die around her. Ernest’s knowledge is a fraction of his involvement in the scheme.
The movie has multiple agendas: introduce the audience to the Osage people and their history around oil, acquaint the audience with several townspeople, and faithfully tell the true story of the Osage murders.
As a result, we get a 3.5-hour movie that has trouble rectifying the thematic content, the storytelling, and the faithfulness to the story’s truth.
Releasing this as a miniseries would eliminate any arguments over the length.
But Scorsese is anti-miniseries, so we have this tome of a movie.
Around an hour in, you understand the situation. By the second hour, you’re convinced the story concludes. Around the third hour, you get déjà vu as you watch conversations and tragedies replicate. Beyond a story or thematic necessity, we watch a play-by-play of the chess pieces.
The story itself feels vital, so I’m glad that the movie exists so that the story can be told. I am also glad it has AppleTV money so that it can look this nice.
The movie has some stylistic flourishes that I like, even if they’re not always tonally consistent. For example, the Lucky Strike stage play ending, while well done, gives the grim story a weirdly comic ending.
The killings are shocking, but the style and framing resemble Goodfellas. Most of this movie feels like Goodfellas’ second half. I’m the guy who has only seen Goodfellas and this movie.
DiCaprio is good, but his fake teeth and shaky accent only detract from the story. Also, De Niro looks and sounds like De Niro, so I don’t feel like I see a character. Scorsese needs new actors to make another great movie.
Lily Gladstone is incredible, so I’m excited to watch more with her.
In a lesser hand, this would be abysmal. Here, the filmmakers achieve something that works, considering everything. To do honor to this story, Scorsese shouldn’t have made such a lengthy film. This movie might end up like The Irishman — once it leaves theaters, nobody will watch it.