Year:  2023

Director:  Martin Scorsese

Rated:  M

Release:  19 October 2023

Distributor: Paramount

Running time: 206 minutes

Worth: $18.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth

Cast:
Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons

Intro:
… uneven and has its share of longueurs during the first half … But after that, it becomes much more involving, as the (sometimes confronting) carnage ratchets up and the scheming becomes more Machiavellian.

Based on David Grann’s non-fiction book, this is the grim story of a series of horrific murders of members of the Osage Native American tribe in 1920s Oklahoma, and the eventual FBI investigation into them. The discovery of oil on their land apparently made the Osage the wealthiest people per capita on the planet. Tragically, it also made some of them potential targets for ruthless white locals with their eyes on the riches. Oil money is very much the root of all evil here.

The acting is uniformly good. Robert De Niro is great as the wicked cattle rancher Bill Hale, and Leonardo DiCaprio is absolutely superb in the complex role of Ernest Burkhart, a nasty yet conflicted and rather dim WW1 veteran. And then there is Lily Gladstone, whose performance as Molly – the Osage woman Ernest marries – is a study in still-waters-run-deep grace… There are other strengths too, not least the bluesy and atmospheric soundtrack music by the recently deceased Robbie Robertson.

Killers of the Flower Moon is uneven and has its share of longueurs during the first half, and there are times when the low level of momentum makes you question the need for its 3.5-hour duration. But after that, it becomes much more involving, as the (sometimes confronting) carnage ratchets up and the scheming becomes more Machiavellian. There are scenes of extraordinary visual impact or ingenuity – most memorably an almost ‘hallucinatory’ fire and a radio broadcast.

Definitely one for the big screen, and proof that Martin Scorsese is still brimming with ideas.

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