stevelivesey67

Is it perfect? No.

Is it too long? Yes. Possibly.

Will modern audiences like it? No.

Why is that? Because of the visual storytelling, the 'assault' scene in the middle which isn't explained until the end and its beautiful languid style which is anathema to to younger more childish tastes in cinema.

De Niro is good, Woods is better but the direction of Sergio Leone us the star here. He cuts back and forth between scenes in the twenties, the thirties a nd later on in the sixties.

There was ten hours of stock used for this movie. The version I saw was just under four hours. I need to see the rest.

I thought we stopped making nonsense like this in the eighties.

Murdercise seems to have been made in backlots and unused offices by wannabe porn stars playing dress up and pretend.

Everything, and I do mean everything is awful.

The acting, awful. The direction, awful. The plot, awful. It seems very much like a film made during covid and that is not a compliment.

I usually don't like to give one star ratings to movies anymore because it takes a lot of effort to get an indie film made these days. But in this case, I will make an exception. It has a depressingly cheap and sleazy feel to the whole thing.

Surprising mainly because of the performances of the two main characters and the script that pops along really well.

Of course the movie has its issues with sets, lighting and overall production values but these are matters of budget and not of talent.

I would be interested to see what else the moviemakers produce next time, hopefully, with a bigger chequebook.

The movie moves along very spritely for the first hour before it moves to its somewhat underwhelming finale. Some plot herrings are left hanging and never circled back to and I could have done without the clichéd racist caller at the start but overall, an impressive effort.