GODZILLA (2014)

I just saw the new "Godzilla" movie not once, but twice! I saw it in I-Max 3-D, and I saw it in my local town theater without the 3-D effects. After seeing it twice and in different visions, is the American "Godzilla" reboot a great return to this classic Giant Monster and has redeemed their horrendous last attempt at making one, or is it just another desperate attempt that fails miserably; ON WITH THE REVIEW!



To make a long premise short, simple and spoiler free (for the most part), two giant egg shaped pods that have been discovered by scientists have suddenly hatched releasing two monsters to destroy the world and populate it with its babies (Anyone thinking of the plot point to America's last attempt at making a "Godzilla" movie?). Luckily, Godzilla is traveling across the world to fight the two monsters and save the world. Meanwhile, you have a Military explosive ordnance disposal technician played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson who is trying to stop the monsters as he tries to get back to his wife and kid; and you have two scientists that want to study Godzilla, while an army leader played by David Strathairn wants the monsters destroyed. A decent plot; it's great to see Godzilla fight not one, but two monsters in the first installment of the reboot instead of one, or rehashing the same plot from the 1954 film and 1998 film (well for the most part); and actually the plot point taken from the 98 film is actually done well here if not great.




Remember in the 98 film how the monster looked nothing like Godzilla and didn't really carry the traditional Godzilla characteristics? America redeems that huge failure thanks to the help from Toho. Every single scene you see Godzilla is an epic win. It not only has the same Toho design, but the CGI is actually incredible. Yeah, personally I prefer the rubber suit, but that doesn't stop me from being blown away at how incredible the CGI for Godzilla is. Godzilla also makes an incredible entrance in this film. Remember in the 98 film when the monster doesn't create so much as a tidal wave as it enters and leaves the water? In this film, we get a Tsunami in Hawaii knowing that Godzilla has come to shore, and when we finally see it and hear its trademark roar, well let me just say that the audience in my first viewing of the film went crackers! As you may have guessed, his epic trademark roar is back, and instead of Godzilla just blowing on cars like he did in the 98 film, America decided to give him back his blue atomic breath, and every time he breathes it out is overwhelmingly epic! So yeah, America finally gave Godzilla the respect that he deserves. However, with getting Godzilla right, the film sadly does have many major flaws. First off, Godzilla isn't really the star of this film. The film's main stars are his enemies and the humans. Godzilla is just a build up monster like the shark from "JAWS" or the Alien in "Alien". While I like the idea that the film is building up to Godzilla, sadly the scenes without Godzilla is where the film falls flat.



The monsters that Godzilla has to fight are called the M.U.T.O.S. and while the M.U.T.O.S. have some cool abilities such as being able to fly; feed off of nuclear waste; can reproduce to populate the world full of their species; and have electromagnetic pulse, I don't think they were as awesome or a match for our main monster Godzilla. The designs for these creatures aren't that creative or cool in the least; both M.U.T.O.S. look and act the same except for the fact that the male can fly, while the female just has a giant glowing ball sack; and they're not even scary. There's no thrill, suspense, surprises, or tension with these monsters, they're basically just creatures waiting to get their asses kicked by Godzilla. Oh, and those moments where we're supposed to think that the M.U.T.O.S. have defeated Godzilla, let's be honest, they're not going to kill off an iconic film franchise monster in his first film of the new American reboot. Even if they did, we know that deep down inside, he will resurrect in the next film. What really infuriates me about the film is we barely get to see any fights between Godzilla and the M.U.T.O.S.. When Godzilla and one of the M.U.T.O.S. meet up for the first time, instead of getting a cool fight scene, it immediately cuts to the aftermath of the fight. When one of the M.U.T.O.S. arrives in Las Vegas to destroy it, we again cut to the aftermath of the creature's arrival. So basically, whenever the film builds up to a fight or what looks to be an awesome sequence of pure destruction, the film decides to cut those awesome scenes out and give us more dialogue from the human characters talking about what happened. We are here to see Godzilla fight and destroy stuff, we're not here to see people on screen talk about it, let us the audience witness it! To be fair, there are a little cool and awesome scenes like the Tsunami, Godzilla at the Golden Gate Bridge, and the final fight, but with that said, it still doesn't stop the fact that the film at many occasions cheats the audience into thinking that they're going to see something awesome and cool.



Another huge flaw that the film suffers is the characters. In the original 1954 film, we had likable and interesting characters that were well acted; in this film sadly, we get bland characters that are not well acted. I honestly didn't care for any of these characters since they are so bland and boring, and the actors themselves don't really give a good dramatic or memorable performance. Aaron Taylor-Johnson as our hero has hardly any personality and as the film progresses, he just becomes less and less interesting and more and more bland. His wife played by Elizabeth Olson, and his son played by Carson Bolde, are just as bland, lifeless, and badly acted as our hero is. Brayan Cranston as our main character's father, to his credit, he tries to act dramatic, but it sadly still comes off as a dull and poorly exaggerated performance that's forgettable. The two scientists played by Ken Watanabe and Sally Hawkins and the Military sergeant played by David Strathairn, to be honest I wish they were the human stars of the film. I'm not saying their characters or performances are good, but if the film just had the scientists and the sergeant argue whether they should destroy the monsters or let them fight as we see Godzilla and the M.U.T.O.S. fight each other and destroy stuff, this film would have been more entertaining, and probably would have given us room for more fights and destruction.

While this new American adaptation of Godzilla has redeemed itself from its last horribly failed attempt by giving Godzilla the respect that he deserves and making him awesome in every scene he's in, the film still fails at giving us a creative, scary and tough opponent for Godzilla to fight; interesting characters; and closes the door on plenty of opportunities that can lead to something cool and epic. If the film gave us at least better human characters that are not only well acted, but have interesting and likable personalities, then maybe I would give the film a higher rating. All I can say is, America got the monster Godzilla right, now let's hope that they give us better human characters; a cool, creative, scary and challenging monster for Godzilla to fight; and more action, or at least not cheat the audience into thinking that they're going to get some action, in the planed sequel.

RATING 2/5

GODZILLA (1998)

My review of the new Godzilla movie is on the way, but lets take a look at America's last attempt at making a "Godzilla" film, which takes us back to 1998, when advertisements for the new Godzilla movie was everywhere. I'm talking about buses, billboards, TV, Movie theaters, magazines, and none of the advertisements showed Godzilla's full image. It was either his foot, his tail, or his eye. When people saw the movie, many people (especially Godzilla fans) walked out of the theaters in disgust at how bad the movie was? How bad is it in my opinion, ON WITH THE REVIEW!



A giant dinosaur like monster named Godzilla, comes to New York City to populate it with its babies and destroy it. However, a scientist (Matthew Broderick), a News reporter (Maria Pitillo), an agent of DGSE (Jean Reno), and the mayor of NYC (Michael Lerner) plan to stop this giant monster from causing havoc on their city. That's pretty much the plot. It's simple; it has Godzilla causing mayhem like he did in the 1954 film; and is directed by Roland Emmerich, who directed "Independence Day", which was no masterpiece, or high class art, but it was entertaining and cool with its special effects and action; and that's what most people were expecting when coming into this film. So where does this film fall flat? Well the director Roland Emmerich never liked the Godzilla films at all. He only agreed to do it because he was promised to have complete creative control over the film. And when your director is not a fan of a film franchise that he's partaking in, it's best not to have him direct the film at all. Also giving a non-Godzilla fan complete control on a Godzilla film that he's directing is not only a ludicrous decision, but chances are, you know it's going to backfire big time, and boy does this film show!




First of all, there's our main star and monster Godzilla. That's not freaking Godzilla! I know it's supposed to be altered and look realistic, as well as not having a guy in a rubber suit. I get that, I expected that, and I understand that, but his design looks nothing and I mean nothing like the classic Godzilla, it's all wrong. It looks more like a crappy version of the T-Rex from "Jurassic Park", than it does Godzilla. On top of it, the rubber suit Godzilla monster looks way more intimidating and realistic compared to this obvious CGI Godzilla wanna be! To make things worse, the monster doesn't even carry any of Godzilla's trademark characteristics. Instead of having blue atomic breath, it just breaths on cars and they automatically explode! Yeah, no blue laser coming out of its mouth, and no fire either, it's just his bad breath! The Godzilla roar is not even close to the traditional Godzilla roar! It sounds like crap, pure crap! Instead of  the monsters destroying buildings like in the classic 1954 film, it just runs around like a scared little child or civilian being attacked by a giant monster, while the army destroys the buildings for it. We are here to see Godzilla (Or whatever the hell it is) destroy the city right, not the freaking dumbass army! By the way, for some strange reason no one in the first two encounters sees where the monster goes too, it just freaking disappears. This is NYC, one of the most crowded cities in the world, and you're telling me that no one knows where this giant monster ran off too? Even their explanation on how it's possible is complete BS. When the monster hides in the water, or leaves it, it doesn't create a giant wave to flood the city, how is that possible with a giant monster?! There are even moments when we're supposed to feel bad for it, yeah feel bad for a giant monster who wants to destroy the world and populate it with its babies! I feel so bad that we're trying to kill it! That's another downer too, there's no monster for this creature to fight; it's just the military. I know the first film did that, but here, instead of a powerful and creative weapon killing it, it's just a bunch of missiles that were used on it before, that now seem to have an effect on it. Do I need to say more about Godzilla's Americanized portrayal in this film?




As for the characters and casting, they suck just as bad as our monster. The film stars Matthew Broderick, yeah, when you think of a Godzilla film, the person you want to be as your leading man is Matthew Broderick. His performance is so bland, awkward, unfunny, and annoying that you begin to wonder why they casted him for this film and what happened to the cool and fun Ferris Buller? You then have his bland love interest played by Maria Pitillo, and that's what the performance and character sadly is! She's also accompanied by a cameraman played by Hank Azaria. Do you prey for the monster to kill him? Well...is the monster such a disgrace to Godzilla that it shouldn't even be called Godzilla? Speaking of Arzaria, three of the voice actors from "The Simpsons" are in this film, which the characters and the creator of the show happened to be big Godzilla fans. You once again have Hank Azaria (Who voiced Moe, Apu and the comic-book guy); Harry Shearer (Who voiced Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner and Mr.Burns) as the superior journalist and News reporter who you wish gets killed too; and Nancy Cartwright (Who voiced Bart Simpson) as a frightened secretary. Not only do their performances stink, but it feels out of place to put part of "The Simpsons" cast in a "Godzilla" film, fans of the film franchise or not. If that's not out of place enough, the Mayor of the city is named Ebert, and his Aide is named Gene. This is Emmerich's way of getting even with the two famous critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert for giving his previous films thumbs down by mocking the crap out of the two. However, the monster doesn't kill them! What's the point of getting revenge on them if your monster doesn't kill them? Was Emmerich expecting them to give his film a Thumbs Up if he made fun of them, but didn't kill them, it makes no sense, and even Siskel himself wonders the same thing? The only actor and character who was close to be interesting and cool was Jean Reno as the French agent, but his performance and character is sadly just as bland as the whole human cast.

Aside from the monster being nothing like Godzilla, and the film having horrible bland and obnoxious characters, another thing this film suffers is how much it rips off "Jurassic Park". Plot wise, no; scene wise, yes! The film actually feels like a "Jurassic Park" sequel than it does a Godzilla film, with its similar look and style. When the baby Godzilla's are chasing after our characters, who isn't thinking of any of the scenes with the Velociraptors? When the characters are driving in a Taxi to get away from the monster that's chasing after them, who isn't thinking of the scene when the T-Rex is running after the Jeep that our main characters are in? Even the idea and look of this Dinosaur like monster in the city, reminds me of the sequence when the T-Rex is let loose in the city in "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" which came out a year before this film was released. Clearly Emmerich was intending to make a "Jurassic Park" knock off, than he wanted to make a "Godzilla" film, and only agreeing to do a Godzilla film, not because he wants to do it out of love for the franchise, but only because he has complete control over everything and knows that this film will sell since the film and monster is called Godzilla, when it clearly has nothing to do with Godzilla! It at least explains why he never wanted Godzilla’s image to be seen for the advertising of this film.

This film is so awful and so disgraceful to the "Godzilla" franchise that it shouldn't even be called "Godzilla"! Ironically, the film ends with a cliffhanger, but the film was so awful that it instead spun off into an animated series than having a second film. Really, they had to make a TV show that continues this insulting Godzilla flick? The studio Toho that created the Godzilla flicks were so displeased with this film that as they made new Godzilla films, they at times took a few heavy hits at this film for how America ruined this iconic Japanese monster. The film is a complete insult to the Godzilla franchise. Will the new American Godzilla film be just as insulting as this film? Well Toho is involved in the project, so chances are it has to be at least better than this flick.

RATING 0/5

ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA

I'm going to review a film that I've been waiting to do for a long time. A film that I consider to be one of the greatest underrated films of all time. The last film Directed by the great Sergio Leone...



Reviewing this film is no easy task. Much like my reviews on "Godfather" or "Citizen Kane", I honestly don't think a review on this film can do much justice, especially when being spoiler free. It's just a film that you have to see for yourself. There are also three different versions of the film. There's the short version; the theatrical version; and the newly released restored version with added scenes. The one I'm going to review is the theatrical version because that's the version that many people are familiar with. Much like my reviews on "It's A Wonderful Life", "Back To The Future", and "Citizen Kane"; I'm going to review the film in parts since the majority of the film is our main character played by Robert DeNiro having flashbacks of his life and regrets of crime.


THE OPENING


The film opens up with gangsters looking for Robert Deniro's character Noodles, and already there's tons of violence. They kill his Wife; they brutally beat his friend for answers; sexually harass an innocent woman during the search, and towards the end of this opening we see Robert Deniro take out one of the thugs. Where's Deniro hiding you may ask, and why are the gangsters looking for him? Well, he's hiding in a Chinese Opium Den, while having flashbacks of the past 24 hours or so, which leads to a clever out of order montage. I'll admit, when I first saw this opening, I was completely puzzled. I didn't know what was going on; what happened during the flashback montage (While being irritated by the telephone constantly ringing every 5 seconds or so); and who took what was ever in the case. As I watched the film again, I finally not only understood the situation better, but this opening was supposed to leave the audience with questions. If you pay direct attention to the montage, the answers to why Deniro is being chased by the gangsters is shown visually without any narration. We go from seeing the corpse's of his dead friends from what appears to be the aftermath of a shoot out with the cops; we cut to an end of Prohibition Party with his friends alive before the events of the shoot out; we find out that Noodles was responsible for their deaths by calling the cops; and while we see this montage, we hear 24 telephone rings which symbolize the guilt and regret that our main character has done. I think that was well put together. However, as I said before, we are still left with questions, which we know that the film will answer as it progresses.



Decades have passed, and Noodles under a new identity receives a letter informing him that the cemetery where his friends are buried has been sold and are asking him to make arrangements for their reburial. Noodles discovers that someone has found out his true identity, and returns to his old neighborhood, and contacts some old friends of his for answers. Throughout Noodle's search for answers, we are then presented with flashbacks of his life, leading up to his betrayal. I'm going to review and talk about each time frame in order, so let's start out with this character's early life of crime.

1920's


Noodles, and his friends were Jewish immigrants who spent their youth living in the Jewish Ghetto's on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, doing jobs for a street punk named Bugsy. However, a kid from the Bronx named Max moves into the ghettos and convinces Noodles and the gang to form their own operation. Noodles on the other hand, is thinking of maybe giving up his life as a street punk to be with his love interest Deborah instead.


First off, the acting from the kids playing our main characters when they were young is outstanding and powerful. They're fun and likable; they execute the drama really well; and while doing criminal things, and trying score with a prostitute around their age, there's still a bit of childhood innocence to these characters, which is done really well, and is extremely hard to pull with characters like these. The kids themselves also really resemble and act like the actors playing them when they're adults. One of the child actors you might recognize who was an unknown at the time, who now made it big now, is Jennifer Connelly playing Noodle's love interest Deborah. Her acting is just as great as all the other actors playing our main characters as kids, and she too acts and resembles the actress playing her character when she's an adult...well aside from having different colored eyes, but personally, I think that enhances the beauty of adult Deborah.


The cinematography, art direction, and edits are all really incredible and are a sight to look at in almost every single shot throughout the whole entire film. The flashback of Noodles' youth also has a similar look to the flashback's of Young Vito's rise to power in "Godfather Part 2", which also starred Deniro as Vito. Speaking of influences, Leone himself also pay homage and tribute to many classic gangster films as well as heist and crime films, throughout the years such as "Little Caesar", "The Roaring 20's", "Angels With Dirty Faces", "The Killing", even "A Clockwork Orange". During the childhood sequence Leone also based some of the crime figures that are gang encounters off of real crime figures. The street punk Bugsy is named after Jewish gangster Bugsy Siegel; and the big Mafia boss that the gang sells their invention too is based on Al Capone, who's called Al Capuano in this film. This sequence also features the iconic and memorable shot of the film of the kids passing the Brooklyn Bridge that's standing between two buildings.


There are only two violent scenes in this portion, but trust me; both of those scenes are very brutal. There's also plenty of suggestive material, and for a brief moment, we see a cop having sex with an under-aged prostitute, which is very shocking (Especially when being part of a segment about childhood). Like I said, there is some humor in this sequence, and one of the best examples of that humor is when the gang takes care of a newsstand for not paying Bugsy. At first, it looks they're just peeing on a bunch of newspaper in the stand as a practical joke, but when we cut to the same shot again, they're actually doing the complete opposite. One of the best and memorable scenes in the film is the scene when Patsy is eating a Charlotte Russe. The reason why it's memorable is because the kid buys the pastry as payment for the young whore Peggy, but as he waits outside for her, while she's finishing up her bath; Patsy, who is poor and hungry, takes a few nibbles of the pastry to finally eating it, realizing that eating in the condition he's in (Especially when having a piece of food that he can hardly afford), is more important than sex. I wish I could talk more about the scenes in this sequence, but then I'd be spoiling the film more newcomers.

1930's


Noodles gets released from prison after serving 12 years for a crime he's committed when he was a kid, and now his friends Max (James Woods), Patsy (James Hayden), and Cockeye (William Forsythe) are now gangsters during the Prohibition, who bootleg liquor; run a speakeasy under Fat Moe's restaurant; own a whore house with their childhood friend Peggy; do jobs for crime bosses; and provide muscle for Union boss Jimmy Conway O'Donnell (Treat Williams). Noodles, now with the power, tries to rekindle his relationship with Deborah (Elizabeth McGovern); while, Max lets greed and power get the better of him, which could get him killed if not careful.



The performances from all the actors in this film are incredible! Robert Deniro as our main character Noodles is one of his best performances of all time. Maybe not as iconic, compared to his other roles, but it's still one of his best. While, bringing his classic Deniro charm by being tough, fun, and cool; his best scenes are his emotional moments. How he and the film deliver his emotions is done so perfectly, that you can actually feel the pain that this character is going through. It's also done in a very subtle way, like Michael Keaton when he's Bruce Wayne in "Batman". It's not over exaggerated; there are no tears; but, you can definitely feel the pain inside the character from the acting and facial expressions, as well as having a touching atmosphere to go with it.



James Woods as his best friend Max, to me, is Wood's best performance in his career. He brings his James Woods humor and charm, but for the majority of the film, he plays the role so maturely, that I completely forget some of the humorous roles that Wood's has played. I also enjoy the relationship and chemistry with him and Deniro. In the beginning, they come off as rivals to becoming really close friends and partners, to slowly losing their friendship out of Max's greed for power; and the transformation to this complex character is done extraordinarily well. One of the recurring phrases and themes in the film is whenever Max and Noodles get in a rough spot in their friendship, they go swimming which is used as relief scenes between the two; which is done really well, and brings the nostalgia of when Noodles and Max fall into the water together during their childhood. Even that crazy moment of Noodles driving the car off the dock and into the water with his friends with him, is executed well.



Another relationship, I enjoy throughout the film is the complex love relationship between Noodles and Deborah. They both love each other and both desire to make it big in life, but they can never be together because Noodles chooses to take up a life of crime to get to the top; while Deborah chooses an honest life by using her dancing, and acting talents to make it to the top. That really makes their relationship, both interesting, and tragic. Elizabeth McGovern does a wonderful job as adult Deborah, and every scene with her and Deniro together is gold. It makes you both smile, but feel sad at the same time due to this complex relationship. The best example is when Noodles takes Deborah out on a romantic date, that goes from being romantically beautiful to having a very sad and heartbreaking end.



The supporting characters in this film, man there's just too many to talk about! James Hayden and William Forsythe as Max and Noodle's friends and partners in crime are fun and likable characters, and you know something, considering what these guys do in this film, it's amazing how the film makes this gang of thugs such likable characters. I know, that's done in every gangster flick since the gangsters are the main characters, but these guys are actually worse. They don't just kill people, they cold-bloodedly kill them the minute before any of their victims can think or comprehend the situation; they brutally rape women; and they even switch a bunch of babies in the hospital to get what they want, and if you think they switch them back, they accidentally lose the list, laugh and joke about it, and leave it up to fate.  The characters in "The Godfather" aren't as vicious and cold as these guys. The reason why we are still emotionally invested with these horrible characters is that we spend so much time with them, that we actually get to feel for them. We know them from their childhood as they suffered through poverty; laugh along with their fun personalities; and our main character Noodles, despite doing such horrible things, he does regret most of his actions. Their actions are still cruel and unacceptable, but (Like in any great gangster film) there's still such a strong investment to these characters that you can't help but fall under the film's spell.


The rest of the supporting cast is just as powerful as our leads. There's Tuesday Weld as Max's girlfriend Carol, who gives a classy performance as this ex-whore, and that scene with her and Noodles in the car together is a really perfectly acted scene for her. You have Treat Williams as Union Boss Jimmy Conway O'Donnell, who is just perfect for his role. There's Joe Pesci and Burt Young, who play two crime bosses that are brothers; and the scene with them together is easily one of my favorite scenes in the movie. Joe Pesci brings his Joe Pesci charm, while Burt Young eats like a pig and tells the gang a funny, but very dirty story. With Deniro aside, the film actually has two other cast members from "The Godfather" films. You have Danny Aiello (Who played Tony Rosato in "Godfather Part 2") as a police Chief, who's really just playing himself, but at the same time he does bring a good amount of fun and drama to his character. Then you have Richard Bright as the fun-loving hitman Chicken Joe, who played Michael's silent, cold, and tough, right-hand man Al Neri in all three "Godfather films". The actors who play adult Peggy, and adult Fat Moe, are not big named stars, but they play their characters so well, that it makes the characters seem more real.


Again, much like the 1920's portion of the film, there's not too much action. However, the action that is present in this portion of the film is cool, brutal, and violent for gangster fans, as well as having the traditional classic gangster to look too it. The sexual material in this portion has to be one of the most graphic pieces of material that I've ever seen in a film. You see a woman fully naked; there's a dirty moment where Tuesday Weld's character is looking at the characters privates (Which, thankfully are not shown); and there are two rape scenes, that are so hard to watch, that the rape scene in "A Clockwork Orange", while still disturbing, feels more tamed when compared to this! Sergio Leone, is best known for his close-up shots in his Western films, and how he captures the facial expressions of the actors, is just as epic as his Western films. Some of the highlights include the Coffee stirring scene, as we cut to each character as Noodles is stirring his Coffee (Which, that minute in the film is supposed to hint that the gang knows what happened during Noodle's date with Deborah, and the silence from the people in the room, as we only hear the sound of a spoon clanking in a Coffee cup, creates the awkwardness of the situation); the scenes when they're ready to kill; and my personal favorite scene, is when each gang member come out of the shadows to stop a man from being killed.  I can talk about more things in this portion of the film, but than I'd be giving away the whole film.

THE PRESENT


I already told you about the plot in the Present portion of the film, and feeling that I'm giving more away than I should, as well as this portion leading to the climax of the film, I'll be short when talking about this portion of the film. The present-day portions of the film are where the nostalgia from our main character's past really kicks in, and nostalgia is indeed one of the many main themes in this movie. The make-up they put on the actors is very real and convincing; the places that our main character has been to in the past have completely changed over the decades; the encounters with Noodle's old friends feel just as real, as when you meet someone that you haven't seen in years; and the transition to the flashbacks are done perfectly and are very creative as well.


Before I wrap up the review, there is one important thing that I must talk about the film, that really helps makes the film so wonderful and emotional, and that's the music. The film's score is done by Ennio Morricone, who's provided the score for all of Leone's Western films, and even though his score to "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" is his most iconic piece that he's composed, personally his score for this movie is my favorite by him, and is also my favorite film score of all time! It's haunting, it's magical, it brings the emotion, tone, and atmosphere to the film; and it fits every scene and moment perfectly. There's that beautiful Piano music to help create the sadness and the drama, that starts out small, but then just builds and builds with the help of the string section. There's the love music that plays in most scenes when Deborah and Noodles are together, which adds that romantic, yet tragic tone of their love. The score even gets jazzy to give the film the feel of the times. Instead of having a badass Harmonica tune that we get in "Once Upon A Time In The West"; we get a tan flute that brings both happiness and sadness. I also admire what Morricone did with the classic Beatles song "Yesterday" by having it be all instrumental, except with the lyrics "Yesterday" and "Suddenly" being echoed. Speaking of classic songs, the film has good use for original classical music as well. You have Kate Smith singing "God Bless America" in the opening, and towards the end of the movie; "La gazza ladra" used during a scene that references "A Clockwork Orange"; and "Amapola", which is a song that Deborah use to dance too when she was a kid. So yeah, the score is awesome. Some complain that they use the same music over and over, but so do a lot of classic films, and if you want my opinion (Which is why most of you are reading this), I think they brought the right balance to it. I didn't find it to be repetitive at all.

What more can I say, I think I've said pretty much everything to sum up how great the film is. However, I will remind you readers reading this that this is a long film that is over 2 hours long, and some might find it too slow, dragging, hard to follow, and might require more than one viewing to understand and appreciate it. If you have time to spare, and I mean plenty of time, definitely give it a watch, but make sure you got your mindset to what you're getting into based off of this review. It's an epic and underrated gangster classic, and for me anyway, gets better with each viewing.

RATING 5/5