I used to contribute to the forums before they were taken down and never did feel the need to sit down and write a lengthy review (until I saw this film yesterday). I am a Scorsese fan and consider him to be one of the best American directors of all time (perhaps that's my problem - expectations!). Having put out gem after gem in the past, one's expectations sore high, too high. You expect nothing but the best in every department and I can't help to compare and contrast this to his other works, it's just human nature. So to start off, the film is just plain, not great by any stretch. Is it Goodffellas, Casino and Taxi Driver caliber? Absolutely not. Well at least not in my opinion but I'm sure many people would disagree. Let's start off with what the film did right, no one can deny the acting was superb, from Deniro, Pacino, Pesci and Keitel (I wish we saw more of him). The narrative style, notably Deniro's voice-over was reminiscent of Scorsese's old films; it gave a touch of nostalgia that brought us back to the 90s and made us feel young again. Not forgetting the amazing music which had the same effect. It certainly reflected the time period and set a perfect mood for what was to be told. For me it started off well and finished somewhat well, however everything else in between to me was just filler... and lot's of it, hence bringing me here and starting this review. I'm not exactly sure why this film was 3.5 hours, but with elements missing to make a great film, it was just way too long. Goodfellas managed to get its point across in just under 2.5 hours with a richer narrative, why couldn't this? So what was it missing? Well for the me, the most important was this: 1. THERE WAS NO FEMALE PROTAGONIST or ANTAGONIST to either drive the story or act as a deterrent to the story, it felt flat without a male/female dichotomy. Can anyone not say that what made his previous films so great was the Stone/Deniro relationship. The Robbie/Dicaprio relationship. Can we not agree that while Ray Lliota made for a terrific gangster his relationship with Lorraine Bracco provided the needed contrast to drive an engaging story. There was nothing like that here. In fact it was the opposite, did Anna Pacquin even have any lines in the script? It was just three old guys who got along pretty well telling a story of how bad-ass they were. This bring me to my next point. 2. NO CONFLICT between the main characters. There was nothing to threaten the integrity or existence of Deniro's state. No dramatic lash outs, no struggle for survival, he just put his head down and played a pseudo yes-man avoiding any sort of confrontation, after all this was Deniro's story not Pacino's, right? I'm confused now. 3. The story was NOT RELATABLE. Sure the teamster's union was an interesting organization but it shouldn't have been the main focus of the narrative, not many really relate to and or know exactly what that was unless you've lived through the 50's, 60's and 70s. (I had to read up a little bit on the worker's union to be able to follow the story) In Casino it acted as a backdrop (like a crust to an apple pie, but the pie itself). 4. The least important point and it wouldn't have been an issue had the other elements been sorted out. YOUNG DENIRO was pitiful. He looked and moved like an 80 year old, I don't think that bringing in someone younger to fill that role would have taken away from the story (it worked in Godfather 2). Was it necessary to spend all that money on CGI just for that? I don't think so. To finish my point, Hollywood should embrace aging actors and not "youthify" them, it just doesn't work. We see through the stained glass, it's not believable. Schwarzenegger can no longer be the same terminator he was, in the same way Deniro can no longer portray the same young gangster he was. For goodness sake he was de-aged in Goodfellas some 30 years ago already, So lets leave it at that. I'm sure this film with garnish a whole load of oscars and awards, and I certainly hope it won't. There are better films out there. I love Scorsese, I'll watch everything he'll make, but sometimes it's hit and sometimes it's a miss. I truly believe that the imdb score will level out in the next few months to something that it more reflective. Many thanks, A film fan.