Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman is his long awaited reunion not only with Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, but it’s also his return to the American organized crime drama that he practically invented with films like Goodfellas. Add the three and a half hour running time, the fact that this is a Netflix movie, and the digital de-aging that was done to De Niro, and you’ve got an event movie that doesn’t have anything to do with superheroes or dinosaurs.
But can the film live up to these impossible expectations? Well, The Irishman just had its premiere at the annual New York Film Festival, and the first Twitter reactions from the lucky few who got to see it are positively glowing. Here’s a sampling of some of those first reactions.
#TheIrishman was well worth the red eye flight and well worth every single minute of that 3 and a half hour run time. More to come in a review on @ColliderVideo later but that lead trio is just as good as you’d hope & it marks another triumph for Thelma Schoonmaker. #NYFF
— Perri Nemiroff (@PNemiroff) September 27, 2019
Despite the truly bladder-busting running time, the film is apparently is so good that it just flies right by.
THE IRISHMAN – Audacious, epic, a film that feels like it spans lifetimes yet whisks by. Technically bold, performances raw and darkly humourous, it is the culmination of Scorsese’s genre fascinations, and a late career triumph. Truly cinematic, demanding to be seen big #nyff57
— Jason Gorber @ #NYFF (@filmfest_ca) September 27, 2019
The digital de-aging seemed to be a concern for many folks going in, but so far it seems to have not been too distracting according to most.
#TheIrishman is utterly exceptional – vintage Scorsese. It takes so much from his best films and then becomes its own. Three brilliant performances and the deaging was no problem at all. #NYFF @FilmInquiry @netflix pic.twitter.com/wTCwhuopY9
— Brent Goldman @ NYFF (@bgoldman22) September 27, 2019
THE IRISHMAN is like a greatest hits album from a master of the medium. Yes, that’s a positive.
The artifice of de-aging is more feature than bug.
It’s not “slow.” It often moves like lightening & elsewhere it’s downright Bressonian.
This is not a review! Those are embargoed.
— erickohn (@erickohn) September 27, 2019
Alright, more coherent thoughts on #TheIrishman to come in my review tonight but I’ll say this for now because I know people are curious about it: The de-aging worked for me! Jarring at first, but you got used to it, and De Niro was good enough that it didn’t matter.
— Anna Menta (@annalikestweets) September 27, 2019
THE IRISHMAN: An instant Martin Scorsese crime classic that’s everything you want to be, and more.
De Niro’s best work in ages, Pesci lights up the screen, and Al Pacino as Jimmy Hoffa screaming about the Kennedys is the peak of cinema!
— Brett _________ (@BrettRedacted) September 27, 2019
Someone just threw out the words “masterwork,” which considering Scorsese’s oeuvre, is the highest praise I can think of.
THE IRISHMAN is a masterwork. Funny, epic, and most of all, melancholy. It’s Scorsese confronting aging, legacies, and mortality. I may or may not have teared up at the end…
— Chris Evangelista (@cevangelista413) September 27, 2019
It’s a masterpiece. Period. #TheIrishman @TheNYFF
— Robert Levin (@Rlevin85) September 27, 2019
And of course, there’s the inevitable Oscar talks from some reviewers already.
THE IRISHMAN: al pacino … oscar ?????
— karen han (@karenyhan) September 27, 2019
Watching De Niro, Pesci, and Pacino fire on all cylinders together shattered me to pieces. This is what I live for. The Irishman is rapturous.
— ᴘᴀᴛʀɪᴋ sᴀɴᴅʙᴇʀɢ (@PatrikSandberg) September 27, 2019
Considering that Scorsese made the quintessential mob classic with Goodfellas, is The Irishman just Goodfellas 2? Apparently, it’s anything but.
Watching De Niro, Pesci, and Pacino fire on all cylinders together shattered me to pieces. This is what I live for. The Irishman is rapturous.
— ᴘᴀᴛʀɪᴋ sᴀɴᴅʙᴇʀɢ (@PatrikSandberg) September 27, 2019
So far, this is the closest to a bad take out there, at least so far—and it’s really not all that bad.
I wish I could take a photo in he dark of all these people on their phones doing twitter hot takes on #TheIrishman. Here’s mine: it’s middle of the Scorsese pack. Def more of a sober character study than classic tense mob thriller
— Mara Reinstein (@MaraReinstein) September 27, 2019
The Irishman will debut in select theaters, starting with L.A. and New York, on November 1, before expanding nation-wide. It’s set to debut on Netflix on November 27.
Images: Netflix
