Review of Casino (1995) by Spangle — 01 Jul 2014

Nobody knows how to make a good gangster film like Martin Scorsese and he shows that ability here. Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci were phenomenal here as expected and, though I heard evidence to the contrary, I never thought the violence was too much.

For the most part, it was relatively tame compared to other films I have seen. In addition, the story was very good and never failed to be completely engrossing. The characters were well crafted and their arcs very interesting to follow.

There were a lot of them, sure, but it was never too overwhelming. In addition, the true story aspect of this made the story really work and I can see why Scorsese was drawn to this, as it feels like a very Scorsese film, as thematically it is similar to many of his other works.

For the most part, it felt a bit like Goodfellas in a casino, but I did not really mind that. The only thing that really stuck out to me was the narration. I think the story could have been told without it and the narration, at times, could distract from the story.

However, otherwise, this was a pretty easy one to watch, even with it being three hours long.