The thought of major awards for this film feels vaguely outrageous: are there no more important films to reward than this slick, effective but rather bland police procedural? Scorsese’s Oscar winning days should be far behind him now, and the Academy must be kicking themselves that they didn’t get it out of the way earlier- now every half- decent slice of noisy Americana the onetime master manages to churn out gets dissected for it’s Best Picture potential.
Admittedly, this is more fun than anything Marty’s managed since Goodfellas, but that’s really not saying much. There’s precious little insight, and the let’s-kill-everyone ending gets daft fast. None of the cast gets the chance to push themselves, and Nicholson in particular seems to be reliving past glories. All in all, it feels more suited to TV than the big screen, like an overlong episode of Brotherhood with a bigger song licensing budget.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: 35mm print
27 Nov 2006 5:48 PM | Submit Comment
