This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.
The highly anticipated Killers of the Flower Moon finally hit theaters. With just over 23 million dollars for the opening weekend, the film did not disappoint. Alongside Oppenheimer and Across the Spider Verse, this was another one of my highly anticipated movies of 2023.
I was super excited to see DiCaprio back on the big screen and Scorsese in the director’s chair. I am a huge fan of most of his movies and I had a feeling that this one was going to be no different.
Killers of the Flower Moon is based on the book “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI”, which itself is in fact based on the true story of the Osage people in Oklahoma. In the movie, it tells the story of Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his uncle William Hale (Robert De Niro). Ernest is back from World War I and comes to his uncle’s cattle ranch in Osage county. Here, he meets a Native American woman Mollie (Lily Gladstone) whom he inevitably falls in love with.
This causes some stir with the local populace. The main reason for the American settlers to move and marry the Native Americans is for their money and oil. Things go awry when the Native Americans start getting murdered and people around town ask too many questions.
Killers of the Flower Moon told a strong story and told it beautifully. I wasn’t too familiar with any of the situations of the early 20th century. This movie shed some light on it. While the pacing of this film was pretty good, there were definitely some parts where it was sort of dragging, which makes the 3.5-hour runtime a bit too much.
Unlike most movie-goers, I don’t mind a long runtime if it isn’t filled with a bunch of fillers and non-essential information. With this particular movie, the only reason why I didn’t have it at a full 5 stars was because of the pacing.
One thing that was truly astounding in Killers of the Flower Moon was the acting. I have no doubt in my mind that there will be multiple Oscar nominations. Leonardo DiCaprio was superb at creating his character around a mysterious person, you didn’t know if he was a bad or good guy. Robert De Niro was great at that nuanced antagonist and Lily Gladstone absolutely knocked it out of the park. Her performance felt so real and felt every single moment and it seemed like she cared so much about being in this role.
Again, in my opinion, I believe that she should be nominated and could win best lead actress this year. It will be a close race with all the great leads so I am excited to see it this year.
Final Thoughts
I went into Killers of the Flower Moon with high expectations because of the director and the cast. I left the theater not disappointed. I left wanting more. More of Lily Gladstone. More of Leo DiCaprio. More of Scorsese. I thoroughly enjoyed sitting through this movie for 3 and a half hours. This movie had a lot of split reviews but for me, it was an amazing watch.
