The Irishman Review: 10 Ups & 1 Down

1. The INCREDIBLE Third Act

No spoilers here, but Scorsese absolutely saves the best for last with this movie, ensuring you likely won't be clock-watching as The Irishman crosses the three-hour mark.

The final third of the movie begins the slow wind-up of the principal characters' stories, and does so by meditating on the fact that death comes for everyone eventually, and far from the dishy public interest in sexed-up mob movies, the reality for most of these men is a lonely, depressing end.

It might be the most emotional work Scorsese's ever done, honestly, serving up a cold, hard dose of reality that's tough not to view as parallel to the accelerated age of both the filmmaker himself and his three main cast members.

That it does all this without ever feeling even remotely sentimental is hugely impressive. The Irishman goes out on a high after maintaining a baseline of excellence throughout.