Killers of the Flower Moon review: Martin Scorsese epic is important and entertaining

At 80 years old and already one of the most revered filmmakers of all time, Martin Scorsese is still growing, as evidenced by his latest master work, Killers of the Flower Moon. 

Killers of the Flower Moon could be considered another gangster movie from Scorsese, which may lead some to expect the kinetic movement and exhilarating violence like Mean Streets, Goodfellas or The Departed. What we get instead is a thoughtful, reflective story about a dark moment in US history, but one that is at the same time immensely entertaining.

It's a good thing too, because at just under three and a half hours, Killers of the Flower Moon is a long one. While its epic length may start to wear on you in the home stretch, the movie justifies its runtime and won't have you itching to check your phone. Part of that is the great work by the cast, led by Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone, with a strong supporting ensemble of character actors, though a couple of casting choices may pull you out for a minute.

Killers of the Flower Moon is based on the non-fiction book of the same name by David Grann, which details the killings of members of the Osage tribe in the 1920s, which is known as the Reign of Terror. The movie centers on Mollie Burkhart (Gladstone), an Osage who, like many in her tribe, came into a vast amount of wealth when oil was found on their land. However, because of measurements put in place by the US government to restrict the Osage's ability to access their own wealth, Mollie's husband Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio) and his uncle, William "King" Hale (De Niro), attempt to make it so Mollie's money comes to their family, eventually through violent means.

You can be forgiven if this part of US history is unfamiliar to you, as the movie very openly calls out the fact these events were forgotten, the guilty parties did not receive the punishment they should have and the Osage people did not get the justice they deserved. Scorsese very clearly is presenting this story to us and asking us all to not forget this time, yet he is not preachy about it.

One of the ways he showcases the injustice of the murders and treatment of the Osage people is through the relationship between Mollie and Ernest. Ernest, to put it simply, is an idiot, wonderfully conveyed by DiCaprio. Despite seemingly to genuinely love Mollie, he comes up with half-baked plans and relies on other idiots to commit these crimes in order to appease his uncle and inch closer to Mollie's money. It's funny in the moment to see these fools stumble about and react to their mistakes, but the longer it sits with you, the more you realize despite their incompetence, they literally get away with murder and other criminal activities for so long. Even when they are caught, the punishment does not end up being equivalent to the crime.

Incompetent is an important word, as that is how Mollie is taken advantage of by the others. We see early on that Mollie has to get her spending approved because she has been deemed incompetent by the banks, though she is far from it (the only thing wrong with her is she suffers from diabetes). Gladstone portrays Mollie as a thoughtful, graceful individual, who was only taken advantage of because of the restrictions put against her and because she unfortunately trusted her husband, nearly to a fault.

Gladstone is terrific, DiCaprio is his ever reliable self, but the stand out of the movie is De Niro. Reuniting with Scorsese for the 10th time, it once again proves to be one of the great cinematic partnerships. De Niro is brilliant as King Hale, the wolf in sheep's clothing behind everything, playing the duality of the role with a perfect balance of charm and menace. Expect all to receive Oscar nominations for their work.

Some kudos also to the supporting cast, which mostly consists of character actors like Tantoo Cardinal, Cara Jade Myers, Janae Collins, Jason Isbell, William Belleau, Louis Cancelmi, Scott Shepherd and Tommy Schultz. However, a couple of casting choices of more familiar actors actually feel like they hurt more than they help.

The late arrival of John Lithgow and reigning Best Actor Oscar-winner Brendan Fraser stick out like sore thumbs and brought me out a bit in the final act (Jesse Plemons is another late arrival, but he fits in pretty seamlessly). Lithgow is less of a problem, but the choice of Fraser feels odd. It may just be recency bias because of his success with The Whale, but it was distracting for me at least.

This doesn't derail anything though, as Scorsese is in complete control of everything on screen. Still, it's fascinating to see how he's involved as a filmmaker. He is patient and restrained in many aspects compared to his early days, and yet Killers of the Flower Moon is no less dark or violent than his other movies. Gone is the glorification of anti-heroes. Here Scorsese wants you to look straight at violence, greed and evil and who it is impacting, then reconcile with what it means.

All in all, Killers of the Flower Moon is a powerful, engrossing and entertaining watch. It earns the three hours of your time and definitely should be seen on the big screen. It reaffirms there are few filmmakers on the same level as Martin Scorsese, and he may not be slowing down anytime soon. If he keeps crafting movies like Killers of the Flower Moon, why should he?

Killers of the Flower Moon releases exclusively in movie theaters worldwide on October 20. It will premiere on Apple TV Plus at an as yet undetermined date.