The Irishman

“The Irishman” showcases absolutely amazing performances from all it’s lead cast. De Niro, Pacino, and Joe Pesci (who came out of acting retirement for this) are all in their top form. It’s a very good film, however, it is indeed 3 and a half hours long. It’ll probably be one of the longest movies you end up seeing in your life. And due to it’s direct release to Netflix as opposed to theatrically, I found it’s length to be a huge detriment. In one sense, on demand is good for this film so you can break it into a few viewings if necessary, but I also found myself constantly getting distracted (which tends to happen to me at home). A theatrical viewing would have been long, but it would have held your attention fully, which wouldn’t have been hard given the awesome performances.

Another issue of it’s length coupled with it’s on demand status is that the story itself jumps back and forth through time periods quite regularly. Breaking this into multiple viewings could just end up leaving you lost and confused as to what was actually going on when you stopped watching last.

It’s not action heavy, like say “The Departed”, but the dialogue is expertly written and delivered with equal skill. If you can pin yourself down and digest this entire film in one 3 and a half hour sitting, you’ll be getting the best bang for your viewing buck.

8/10