Review of Casino (1995) by Mikael A — 01 Mar 2012

Casino is sadly overshadowed by the superiority and popularity of Scorsese's masterpiece Goodfellas, being very similar in genre and style. Yet even that doesn't make it less interesting or less entertaining, and it has earned to be set apart from Goodfellas. Its more colorful, attractive setting make it worthwile, and its cinematography, camera-work, as well as use of music remain original. Still after several viewings, the grandeur of Casino never fails to impress me.

Now, this surely isn't a movie for everyone. It is harsh and extremely violent, and the constant use of the word "fuck" (422 times in almost 3 hours) could be enough for it to be dismissed as plain disgusting... But its true power resides in its pace and in its characters. Casino is especially effective in the manner it depicts what eventually will and must happen to the people we've shared lives with on the screen.

Written by the winning pair of Goodfellas, Pileggi and Scorsese, and again adapted from a true story, it tells of the rise and fall of a big crime empire partly set in one of Las Vegas's most prestigeous casinos, the Tangiers, headed and run by De Niro's character, Sam "Ace" Rothstein. How he handles his affairs and even his personal life, troubled mostly by his trophy wife Ginger (Sharon Stone), is impressive but will lead him to no good, as he is egocentric and hard-tempered. His acquaintances range from Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci, again perfect in the role of a degenerate), a boyhood friend sent over to control the street life, to the real bosses and their clean-cut businessmen who make the deal look legal. Anyway it`s quite pointless here to remember the whole story, but it`s necessary to know that everyone gets a piece, if only a small piece, of everything, but in the end nothing lasts, and painful is the downfall...They all seem to deserve what's coming to them, and it's shocking, affecting, unforgettable - the result of great storytelling.

So many technical and stylish achievements but, mostly, details, have come to make Casino one of the most brilliantly crafted and best directed films I`ve had the pleasure to see.