Killers of the Flower Moon

Martin Scorsese’s new epic film details the growth of true American evil, detailing the systematic murders of the Osage people and conquest of their land after oil is discovered on it.

While this was a long film, in my opinion the runtime was justified. Trying to shove this story into two hours would be doing a disservice to many of the storylines. The pace never slows down or lulls – creating an engaging story throughout.

Tori and I made a day of it. We walked around town and ate a nice dinner before killing some time at a nearby Home Goods before our showtime. We were the first people in our IMAX theater, arriving about fifteen minutes early. By the time the lights dimmed, there were no more than ten people in the theater with us. It was disappointing that the seats did not recline (it was somewhat difficult to get comfortable) but overall the theater was good.

We were greeted by a short message from director Martin Scorsese, thanking us for supporting the film, his passion project. Anything for you, Marty.

You can’t talk about Killers of the Flower Moon without mentioning the acting, which was very strong throughout. DiCaprio was great as bumbling puppet Ernest, and DeNiro shines as the darkly charismatic patriarch William Hale. However the real star of this picture was Lily Gladstone as Mollie Kyle – a quietly powerful Osage who marries Ernest. Her range of emotion throughout the film is unforgettable, adding so much pathos to the film.

While the big three were great, this film was an ensemble. The supporting cast knocked it out of the park as well, creating believable performances within the film. It’s hard to shout out one performance without shouting out them all.

To me, the other standout was the score by Robbie Robertson, a frequent Scorsese contributer who passed a few months before the film’s release. The score invokes a sense of dread through percussion and blues. It worked so well.

We are talking about a master of the medium here, so it is no surprise that this was well directed, edited, and shot. The film utilizes quick and unexpected cuts to gruesome violence to underline the severity and evilness of the murders, which I found to be highly effective. My one complaint was the film being too loud. However, I suspect the nearly empty IMAX theater was the issue – not the audio mix. I left the theater with a headache from all of the noise.

This is a very important film, and I was very happy to see it in theaters. It will be lost to streaming soon, but if you can see it on the big screen before then, I recommend that you take that opportunity.