THE IRISHMAN

It plays for 209 minutes so yes, it could lose around thirty minutes or so towards the end when the pace noticeably slackens and that' it, really, my only criticism of Martin Scorsese's magnificent new movie "The Irishman", a valentine to De Niro and Pesci, Pacino and Keitel and a homage, not just to his own classic "Goodfellas" but also to The Godfather films and the television series "The Sopranos". In many ways it's like an anthology of gangster movies but not in the way you might expect. Yes, there are a lot of 'hits' on view, (Gangster Movies Greatest Hits?), as De Niro goes around despatching, with a few bullets to the head, not his enemies but those of his associates and employers. He is literally a gun for hire, even when the victim is someone he might really care for. In this respect the movie most closely resembles "Goodfellas" but what really makes this a great film rather than merely a very good one are the conversations. This is a movie full of really good talk delivered by some of the greatest actors alive today. There were times when I was wriggling in my seat out of the sheer pleasure of seeing De Niro sit down with the likes of Al Pacino and Joe Pesci and Harvey Keitel and simply talk. Indeed, I could have been doing with more of Keitel whose part is really reduced to just one great scene, but what a scene it is.

Early reports of the film made much of a new digital process whereby the actors appear as their younger selves. To be honest, I found this hardly noticeable particularly where De Niro is concerned. Only Pesci came as something of a shock, (he looks like he's wearing a rubber mask in his early scenes), but then Joe has been absent from our screens for so long now it's difficult to know what exactly he does look like. To find fault with the process is really a minor quibble; it's just a joy to see this cast in the one movie.

De Niro himself is hardly ever off the screen and his performance is certainly one of his finest in a few decades, (I'd long give up hope of ever seeing him in a part this good again). We also owe Mr. Scorsese an unending debt of gratitude in coaxing Joe Pesci out of retirement. This isn't the Joe Pesci of old, the volatile little firecracker from "Goodfellas" but a measured old man who knows all he has to do is raise his little finger, not his voice, to get what he wants. His character here might be what Tommy DeVito would have become had he not been bumped off, resting on his laurels but a killer to the end. He should win the Oscar for this.

Of course, they and others in the cast, are Scorsese regulars. Pacino, on the other hand, is Coppolla's boy and is working with Marty for the first time and initially he seems out of place, like he's drifted in from another movie altogether and what we are getting here is 'Shouty Al', 'Roaring Al', Al at the top of his lungs and his performance is in marked contrast to the subdued work of De Niro, Pesci and Keitel. For a moment I thought he might unbalance the picture until I realised this is just what we needed. His Jimmy Hoffa is an adrenelin shot in the movie. Like his co-stars he is an actor relishing the best role he's had in years and like them he has his own great little moments, (dancing with Anna Paquin as De Niro's estranged daughter we could be watching an ageing Michael Corleone). Of course, even actors this could would be nothing without the benefit of Steven Zaillian's marvellous script or Scorsese's sublime direction. When the film was over I thought no, it's not one of Scorsese's masterpieces, it needs trimming, but twelve hours later I have revised my opinion; warts and all, this is as good as movies get.