Review of Casino (1995) by Marco F — 21 Apr 2014

Very much underrated (maybe due to the success of GOODFELLAS) when it was released, CASINO is a fascinating, if at times overlong and sometimes editorially innapropriate epic crime drama set in the 1970's and early 1980's. Martin Scorsese presents a very in-depth look at the Mafia's control of casinos in Las Vegas, which, presented as is, is fabulous. The character's dialogue, the performances throughout and the overall look of the film are all first-rate- films of this quality don't come around too often.

The film is very violent and has lots of foul language- but that doesn't bother me one bit- that is there for a reason. What does bother me about this movie is that some parts of scenes don't work and the film has a bit of fat on the meat, if you get my meaning. There's too much excess than the story requires, some is just thrown in for stylistic purposes. The film also seems to be at times unfocused- GOODFELLAS was made in a similar way, but whereas that film was about one person, this film is about a whole empire with many people involved, and the similar style doesn't work as well in CASINO as it did in GOODFELLAS.

Still- even with it's flaws, CASINO is top-quality entertainment- try not to miss it, you may like it even more than me.