Fans who thought Martin Scorsese’s 2019 The Irishman would be his last film were wrong. In 2023, Scorsese upped the ante by re-uniting two of his most loyal collaborators, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, for another three-and-a-half-hour period epic with Killers of the Flower Moon. With a huge budget of $200 million-$215 million and the screenwriter behind classics such as Schindler’s List and Forrest Gump, the legendary director seemed set for another hit under his belt.
Releasing on October 20, 2023, and later going to streaming, Killers of the Flower Moon was met with instant acclaim from critics. Richard Brody of The New Yorker said: “The movie raises the idea of silence to a nearly transcendent pitch of passion.” Stephanie Zacharek from TIME Magazine called Scorsese’s adaptation of the source material “somber” and “poetic.” Despite some critics pointing out its flaws, Killers of the Flower Moon was hailed as another late-stage triumph in Scorsese and De Niro’s decade-long partnership.
How Does Killers of the Flower Moon Compare to Other Scorsese Films?
Considering how many classics Scorsese has made, comparing Killers of the Flower Moon to any of them is very high praise. What sets it apart is its combination of several genres that Scorsese has rarely sought to bring together in a project of such scope. The obvious genre to pull is crime, something Scorsese is known for.
He also weaves in elements of romantic drama seen in films like The Age of Innocence, a slight screwball comedic tone from After Hours, and historical fiction from films like Gangs of New York. Killers of the Flower Moon attempts to juggle these conflicting tones simultaneously, leading to something wholly distinct from Scorsese’s catalog while still replaying the hits. In this comparison to his other works, Killers of the Flower Moon begins to lose its potency. Scorsese has always been at his best when adding his own ironic and darkly tragic spin on a hero’s fall from grace. From Henry Hill in GoodFellas to Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull, the Scorsese protagonist is an inevitably tragic one.
DiCaprio’s character of Ernest Burkhart doesn’t get this treatment, instead being shown mostly as a bumbling fool who almost unwittingly ends up in these situations. Whilst this is not a bad thing on paper, it means that Killers of the Flower Moon feels like a story begging for some ownership, but it is left as another tale of crime gone wrong that fails to properly distinguish itself in setting or character.
Where Killers of the Flower Moon Goes Wrong
For a film so overtly condemning the white man, the lack of punch to its narrative feels like a missed opportunity. We see a target identified, killed, and then a grieving family member. Rinse and repeat until the white man rules. This is fine, but Scorsese has done so many more interesting things with the themes of corruption that go unused here. Killers of the Flower Moon benefits from a stellar Lily Gladstone, who gives Scorsese one of his all-time performances, but she is mostly bed-bound for a significant portion of the film.
This is how it probably was, with a lack of agency on the Osage side, but it makes for a somewhat predictable Scorsese experience. By any other director’s level, this is still a good film. But Killers of the Flower Moon feels like the story of a white man’s failure rather than an Osage woman’s loss. That framing takes away from Killers of the Flower Moon. The fact that Scorsese is still making these long movies is impressive, and he should keep doing it for as long as he can. However, Killers of the Flower Moon will not be mistaken for high-point Scorsese, a time when everything he said was as uncompromising as the tales of tragic power he spun. Killers of the Flower Moon is streaming on Apple TV+.
