Killers of the Flower Moon is director Martin Scorsese’s most recent attempt at swaying the hearts of filmgoers with a tense, psychological thriller following the murderers of the Osage tribe.
Set in 1920s Oklahoma, Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) moves in with his wealthy uncle William Hale (Rober t De Niro) after fighting in World War I. Ernest Burkhart teams up with his brother Byron (Scott Shephard) as small-time crooks, but their growing greed sends the Burkharts on a downward spiral of murder to steal the Osage’s oil-rich land.
Killers of the Flower Moon is yet another Scorsesean tale of crooks and the degrading behavior inspired by greed and lust for power. Scorsese doesn’t tell a new story with this film, it’s the same story that Scorsese has told before: similar to The Wolf of Wall Street and Goodfellas, and, although I haven’t seen them, The Irishman and Raging Bull. Greed, ambition, and immorality leading to eventual self-destruction. In a way, Killers of the Flower Moon is the pinnacle of Scorsese. It’s the magnification of all the traits and aspects that make Scorsese, Scorsese. The story, the cinematography, the acting, all of it falls into place as a testament to Scorsese as a filmmaker.
Leonardo DiCaprio acts. Robert De Niro acts. All the ensemble actors act. Everything works. Everything flows together. It’s beautiful. But for me, it’s the same good, potent, rich story that Scorsese has told and, at the time of writing, I fail to see what makes this worthwhile. I knew the ending by the beginning. It’s a story worth telling and I’m glad it was told, but maybe it could have been told from a different perspective- where, for three and a half hours, the protagonists aren’t the villains, one in which viewers aren’t stuck with how horrid everything is about this. Flip the script maybe. There’s beauty in this story, but I don’t think this film captures that beauty.
My opinion is probable to change, but as of now, I do not regret seeing this movie and would recommend it.
