Review of Casino (1995) by Danny A — 05 Aug 2012

Martin Scorsese is one of the most important directors of our time. He makes movies the way they should be. If it takes three hours to tell a story, which he does in this film, he will make it worth your while. "Casino," is a brutal look into the world of gambling, drugs, sex, murder and everything else that made the Vegas strip in the 70's and early 80's. Even with it's disturbingly real violence, this is a beautiful film.

With it's factoid plot and excellent writing, Scorsese revolves the movie around Sam Rothstein played brilliantly by Robert De Niro and his child hood friend Nicky Santoro portrayed by Joe Pesci in one of his best roles. We watch these two characters rise to all-time dominance, and then tear each other apart between a hot, high-class, gold digging junkie by the name of Ginger McKenna, in a role she was destined to embrace, Sharon Stone lights up the screen.

Aside from the great performances, the look of the film is top notch due to the great cinematography and Scorsese's trademark style. The music is great with original score and great hits from the 70's and 80's. The violence in this movie is to be noted for its realism, this is not something that can be watched easily, but the purpose of it is to see what really happens when someone gets shot, or hit with a baseball bat, it's not pretty.

What it comes down to is Martin Scorsese hits another home run with this film, and even though it could be considered something he has done before, it still has it's own feel and tone that is not in his other movies. An ambitious, epic crime saga, "Casino" fits in with all the gangster flicks like butter and toast. Everyone who was involved in this movie put their hearts and souls into it, and it shows on screen, for that I say Thank you.