'Killers of the Flower Moon' Review

Martin Scorsese once again takes on greed and the darkness of man in a surreal Western epic

Killers of the Flower Moon was easily one of my most anticipated films of the year. Scorsese has gained a place in the pantheon of modern cinema by consistently putting out works of (mostly) outstanding quality for almost 50 years. Any film he is set on releasing I will always plan around so I can see it as soon as possible. This movie was no exception, and after his fantastic showing with 2019’s The Irishman, I was eager to see what more he had to say, especially with this massive runtime. I am pleased to say this did not disappoint. 

Killers of the Flower Moon falls into a similar vein with his previous film, and shows this is perhaps Scorsese’s “mellowing out” in comparison to some of his high-energy previous works. What this film does differently is both in subject and execution: Killers is ultimately a “Heart of Darkness” style of story, showing the descent into total moral degeneracy all for greed. While The Irishman is about a man who stands for nothing being used as an instrument of evil, this movie is about a man doing anything for his dark and twisted “American dream” that lacks any moral compass (similar to The Wolf of Wall Street). The story, adapted from David Grann’s 2017 historical account, tells the shocking true story of the Osage murders of the 1920’s, an event that got so out of hand the Federal Government had to intervene. 

This movie is easily Scorsese's best paced film in over a decade, with not a single piece of this film feeling like it could be cut. While personally I felt The Irishman was similarly paced, something about Killers felt slightly more refined. This film felt like a 2 hour film that was jam-packed with so much nuance I know I missed some of it. 

Marty has typically always had well-shot films, but the cinematography in this film (by Rodrigo Prieto who collaborated with Scorsese on his last two films) feels like he stepped up his game. There are quite a few shots that will linger with me for a long time, and have me eager to revisit this as soon as I can. The biggest concern going in was whether or not the film would be just a lazy, progressive "cry fest" or serve as a well-constructed critique of the nature of mankind, and I'm happy to say it is very much the latter. This story, despite being so rooted racially in American history, feels like a universal tale of greed and lack of moral conscience. Rarely have I ever despised two characters as much as I have Leonardo DiCaprio’s and Robert De Niro’s as I have in this.  

I was very taken aback to find out how terrible many of the characters are in this story. The only decent person is Lily Gladstone in her breakout role as Molly, who plays this character with a perfect amount of vulnerability yet strength. She grows from standoffish to feeling the victim, to playing her role as a more traditional Hollywood female role, with all of the complexity to go along with it. Her character is the heart and soul of the film that keeps it rooted in some humanity. 

Scorsese is able to pull unbelievable performances from the entire cast, with De Niro showing he can still act with intense restraint and yet dominate the screen with his presence. Not once does he raise his voice, swear, or hit someone. He doesn’t need to. The fruits of his labors show all over with terrifying consequences, and the revelation of him being a total vacuum of darkness at the end is bone-chilling. DiCaprio blends into scenes, so effecting that the audience often forgets they are watching him.

The overall execution of Killers of the Flower Moon is fantastic, with a healthy mix of both cold stark realism and the surreal. I have always thoroughly enjoyed the cinema of Ingmar Bergman, with the seamless blending of surreal and real, and am pleased to see Scorsese starting to follow competently in his footsteps. The ending "epilogue" that would normally be reduced to a PowerPoint presentation that sits at the end of most historical films is reinvented with profound creativity, and I would love to see other filmmakers give their own attempt at something like it. 

AppleTV+ is thankfully playing into the old Netflix strategy of giving experienced auteurs whatever they want to make whatever they desire, and if they are able to maintain it, I genuinely hope we can continue to receive these large passion projects. As of writing this, I cannot really think of any issues I had with the film other than my desire for longer films like this to be displayed as the old roadshows of the 1950’s and 1960’s, replete with glorious intros, intermissions, and outros. I highly recommend seeing Killers of the Flower Moon and have every intention to rewatch perhaps the best film of 2023.