Review of Casino (1995) by Buchanan H — 19 Feb 2014

Casino is without a doubt Scorsese's visual opus. It is a kaleidoscopic journey through the glitz, glam and grit of a mid-seventies mobster run Las Vegas. De Niro masterfully narrates this dizzyingly beautiful crime film as Sam "Ace" Rothstein, a Jewish bookie from Chicago who moves to Las Vegas to find a sort of redemption running the fictitious Tangiers casino in the heart of Las Vegas. However, Ace's mobster best friend (Pesci) and ex-hustler wife (Stone) threaten to topple a multimillion dollar mafia empire.

The film combines elements of drama, comedy, and even sprinklings of documentary as we are educated on nearly every aspect of running the corrupt casino via lovely tracking shots.

A criticism of this film is that it is overly long and "boring" to many audience members, perhaps resembling Scorcese's previous mob flick GoodFellas a little too much stylistically. Another is that the film is exceedingly ugly with its bright and flashy set pieces, gaudy wardrobe and fast camera movements. While I can see where these criticisms come from, it doesn't change the fact that this is an excellent film that does an excellent job mimicking the fast paced and decidedly garish city in which it is set.