Making his first narrative Netflix movie, Martin Scorsese delivered a crime masterpiece with The Irishman. While the best Scorsese movies prove a versatility that few other filmmakers could achieve, it is hard to deny that he excels at gangster movies. The genre has helped to shape his career and has made him one of the greatest directors ever.
Scorsese continues to make ambitious and cinematic movies, but he has also begun working with streaming platforms in recent years. Scorsese’s historical crime epic The Killers of the Flower Moon was his first movie with Apple TV+, but the filmmaker previously teamed with Netflix on a gangster movie filled with Scorsese’s frequent collaborators.
The Irishman Is A 10/10 Modern Gangster Movie
The Irishman is another gangster movie masterpiece from Martin Scorsese and proof that he still has things to say in this genre. Scorsese reteamed with Robert De Niro for the ninth time, as the legendary actor plays Frank Sheeran, a real-life hitman for the mob who also claimed to be the man who killed union boss Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino).
Like Goodfellas and Casino, The Irishman is a decades-expanding story that details Sheeran’s life in the mob, his friendship with Hoffa, and the aftermath of his murder. However, the movie also feels like an epilogue to those earlier gangster movies, exploring what happens when these men grow old.
Rather than being about money and power, The Irishman explores themes of guilt and loyalty in this world. Even for those unfamiliar with the story of Hoffa, the movie shows how woven into the history of America this saga was. It makes it all the more impactful when the movie reaches current times, and none of that matters anymore.
De Niro gives one of his best performances of the 21st century, and Pacino is as fiery and entertaining as ever. Joe Pesci also steals the show with a brilliant supporting performance. With all these figures teaming with Scorsese on The Irishman, it feels like they are collectively confronting their own legacy within the gangster movie genre.
How The Irishman Ranks Against Martin Scorsese’s Gangster Classics
When it comes to Martin Scorsese’s gangster movies, The Irishman is an essential piece of the collection, but it faces stiff compeтιтion in terms of which of those movies is the best. As often as Scorsese has explored this genre, all of these movies are worthwhile in their own way and explore something different.
Fittingly, it was the gangster movie genre that finally won Scorsese an Oscar for Best Director and Best Director, with The Departed. One of Scorsese’s most mainstream movies, it might not actually be his best and most profound movie, but it is a hugely entertaining crime movie from the master filmmaker.
Mean Streets also deserves special recognition as Scorsese’s terrific first gangster movie, taking a look at a younger generation striving to be part of this world. Casino is another exhilarating look at the opulence of the mob world, though it does suffer slightly from feeling too similar to what came before.
Ultimately, Goodfellas is Scorsese’s best mob movie and the best movie he has ever directed. The journey he takes the audience on shows the intoxicating thrill of the mob world, which gradually falls apart into violence and paranoia. Scorsese never hits a false note and gives an authenticity to this world that no other movie has achieved.
While The Irishman doesn’t quite reach the same heights as Goodfellas, it is a movie that keeps improving with time. Despite being a three-hour epic, it is incredibly rewatchable and certainly the most emotional of Scorsese’s gangster movies. It sits comfortably among the others and highlights the filmmaker’s brilliance.
