I haven't watched much Scorsese, that's a fact. I've missed the Gangs of New York when it was on, have only heard about Taxi Driver, have heard a loooot about the Last Temptation of The Christ, didn't know The Color of Money was his when I watched it, and ohh! and I just remembered that The Departed I've seen at the movies last year was also his. Oh, and The Aviator, of course. Much better then...I am ready to write about Casino.
I had heard a lot about the main generic first scene, and it actually is very impressive. Who would have given so much work to introduce the cast. Scorsese.
The action takes place in Las Vegas, Nevada, where Ace (Robert de Niro) is willing after a lifetime of robbery and off-limits deals to settle down to open a "clean" business: a casino. He doesn't have the authorization to do it but who cares, it's Vegas. The deal is to use the weakness of the clients in order to have them come back, on and on. Ace is a brilliant gambler and knows how to run the business, take care of the cheaters. There are two things he is unable to deal with.
First of all, love. He finds this opportunistic vamp (Sharon Stone) in the game room and falls in love with her. That will occur to be a bad choice. The lady is a complete victim of the 70's and is rarely sober.
His second main problem is Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci), an old friend that is way to stubborn to understand that Ace is trying to have everything "legit" from now on. He does everything like it used be to "back home", leading Ace's business to a political fiasco.
The cast is gorgeous, Robert de Niro was right after Branagh's Frankenstein, Sharon Stone was at her highest (and only) peak and Joe Pesci was everywhere at that time. Ace's character is of the ex-con type. He doesn't want to have anything to do with his old friend Nicky, loves his wife truly and try to avoid legal problems whatsoever. De Niro suits fine, as always in this kind of movies (remember Once upon a time in America, The Godfather II, The Goodfellas...?) and has made me forget about Meet the Parents. His acting is irreproachable throughout the whole movie, so is Stone's. She gets a bit annoying when playing drama, getting emotional, doesn't work out much, but it's ok to say she's playing the part of her life (when getting some perspective) and she's played it fair.
Joe Pesci plays Nicky, an annoying tyrannic-not-so-tall mafioso. His play is of a "goodfella", but seriously, does he have to curse that much? check out JFK, he doesn't have a big part, but he has just the time to make us feel like "darling, you put the wrong DVD on". I think the one movie where he keeps his mouth shut is Home Alone, and that's a Disney. That's kindda sad. The off -voice narrating the story is a good idea, there comes just a feeling to turn it very off when Pesci comes in.
Anyway, Scorsese succeeded in showing us the evolution of Vegas, however putting a stress on the lack of life when the city run by "honest" citizens, he fails to give sense to the movie by ending on the idea that Las Vegas is now a Disneyland, the poor gangsters have to find themselves another place.
Moreover, we see the ending of three persons that were meant to know each other (Nicky and Ace), love eache other (Ace and Stone) destroyed by the pursue of money.
That's good Scorsese.
Verdict:
Rated? very guilty, that ain't sugar-coated, that Scorsese-coated...
Worth watching? no comments
Final Grade 14/20
watch the trailer
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