‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ review round-up: Martin Scorsese delivers ‘a staggering and brilliant crime epic’
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Whether you lined up outside the Palais de Festivals hours in advance or deliriously refreshed the web for minute-to-minute updates from halfway around the world, the long-awaited unveiling of Martin Scorsese’s “The Killers of the Flower Moon” at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival felt like a historic cinematic event.
Based on the best-selling nonfiction book of the same name by “The Lost City of Z” author David Grann, the film is set on the Osage reservation in 1920s Oklahoma – the decade of the Tulsa massacre. Recently discovered oil deposits enrich the settlement, making the Osage the wealthiest people in the world per capita, but “many, so many hungry wolves” soon follow. Chief amongst them are corrupt cattleman William Hale (Robert De Niro) and his nephew, Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio), the latter of whom infiltrates the community by marrying a prominent local (Lily Gladstone). Together, the uncle-nephew duo plots a violent takeover of the Osage Nation’s newfound wealth. Apple gave us our first look at footage on Thursday.
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SEE ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ trailer: Can you find the wolves in this picture? [Watch]
Tomris Laffly (The Wrap) calls the film “vast and vital in its scale, purpose and emotional scope, a Western-thriller and ensemble piece that is every bit a Scorsese crime picture as one can dare to imagine.” Discussing “Killers’” pristine craftsmanship, Peter DeBruge (Variety) writes, “[Scorsese] and DP Rodrigo Prieto immerse audiences in the oil-rich community, featuring street races and downtown parades, plus a stunning scene in which [Hale’s] cattle can be seen burning in his fields. Picnics and powwows provide more than just production value, situating this incredible story within a singular place and time.” Jordan Ruimy (World of Reel) hails it as “a staggering and brilliant crime epic.”
Some are questioning whether the material justifies this treatment’s three-and-a-half-hour runtime, but not Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian), who in his five-star review writes, “Scorsese crafts an epic of creeping, existential horror about the birth of the American century.” Fionnuala Halligan (Screen Daily) adds, “‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ is of John Huston scope, with some of the edge of a ‘Chinatown.’ This is terrific cinema, full to its 206-minute brim.” Ruimy also comments on the length but is ultimately unfazed: “Scorsese and [editor Thelma Schoonmaker] need to know when enough is enough. The film just doesn’t know how to wrap things up in concise fashion. Know what? I couldn’t care less because on a moment-to-moment basis, this is some of the best filmmaking you’ll see this year.” Next Best Picture’s Ema Sasic tweets that the film takes its place “among top-tier Martin Scorsese.” Justin Chang (The Los Angeles Times), however, is less taken and in his review’s headline writes that the movie “grips, disturbs – and disappoints.” Specifically, he questions the decision to transfer “the story’s emotional and psychological weight…disproportionately toward Ernest, and in ways that DiCaprio’s increasingly anguished perma-frown of a performance can’t entirely shoulder.”
SEE Apple finally releases new stills from ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’
Gladstone, who was earmarked for a Best Supporting Actress slot when we still thought “Killers of the Flower Moon” was coming out in 2022, is predictably earning raves for her performance as the Marked Woman, Mollie Kyle. Laffly calls her a “mesmerizing presence,” and Bradshaw says she gives a “performance of tragic force.” Reports of Gladstone having been on the verge of leaving acting before securing the part are, as many online have noted, straight out of the awards-season playbook. DiCaprio, blending the villainy he displayed in “Django Unchained” with a “simpering and blubbing” servility, will also very likely factor into the Oscar race. Reviewers are finding it impossible not to mention a rather outrageous-sounding scene of De Niro flogging him for failing to complete a task. Ruimy calls Gladstone “sublime” and says De Niro “gives his best performance in decades.” “Killers of the Flower Moon” marks DiCaprio and De Niro’s second collaboration (the other being 1993’s “This Boy’s Life”) and first under Scorsese.
Originally conceived as a detective story following Tom White (Jesse Plemons), a former Texas Ranger sent to Oklahoma from the recently-formed FBI, Scorsese and co-writer Eric Roth decided to pursue something more complex and of a piece with “GoodFellas” and “Casino” – crime sagas that double as autopsies of the twisted marriages and familial dysfunction at their centers. DeBruge feels that embedding us with the conspiracy’s masterminds and inside Ernest and Mollie’s home “makes a stronger impression.” Speaking with Deadline, DiCaprio said, “A lot of Osage women were marrying white men who really came to prey on them, to take over their headrights and seize their oil money. And yet, at the same time…They still loved each other. That was the twisted complexity of what made this a truly dark American story.”
“Killers of the Flower Moon” has debuted with a 91 Metacritic average and a 95-percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. While the enthusiastic response is unsurprising, it’s a comfort to know Marty’s got another winner on his hands. Most of us will have to wait until mid-October to experience it.
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