A Reel Review: KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON

Over the years, Famed director Martin Scorsese has brought stories to the big screen centered around obscure, forgotten, somewhat minor or ignored history. GOODFELLAS (1989), hung out with east-coast gangsters, GANGS OF NEW YORK (2002), did battle with the original east-coast gangsters, and WOLF OF WALL STREET (2013), counted the coins of a Wall Street crook. Here in 2023, Scorsese turns his attention to the grisly, tragic, and outrageous treatment of American Indian women in KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON. 

Ernest (Leonardo DiCaprio), returns home from WWI to live with his uncle Hale (Robert DeNiro), on the Osage Nation in Oklahoma…where Native Americans are becoming the richest people in the country thanks to the production of oil on their land. Hale encourages Ernest to marry Mollie (Lily Gladstone), who is heir to an oil fortune…just as other Native American women are mysteriously murdered. 

Directed by Scorsese and based on the book of the same name by David Grann, KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON is a film designed to make our skin crawl. Ernest falls in love with Mollie and begins a family, while slowly entering the dark conspiracy at play: white men are marrying Native American women who are heirs to an oil fortune…and after the children are born, murder the wives and inherit the cash and oil rights. The murders range from gunshots to poisoning, and even hired private detectives are powerless against the dark plotters…led by Hale. Greed is the name of the game here, and Ernest is caught in the middle of it all as he has truly fallen in love with Mollie. Scorsese is exploring the moral boundaries of a man set firmly between a chance at lifelong wealth or a life of love. 

There is a commitment to being true to history here, as KILLERS pulls no punches in exposing one of America’s darkest histories. Seeing Native American women killed and their justice denied is hard to watch. This perspective is shown through the Mollie character, which is a surprising shift and leads to the Ernest character kept at a cold distance. There are some mental gymnastics to be taken as the audience needs to realize that the story is not about the white-man lead actor/character. 

KILLERS is a gorgeous-looking film, and some of Scorsese’s long-takes are some of the best of his career. The blood and gore is not too bad. The editing is sharp but the film does feel every bit of its massive 206 minute run-time (that’s 3 hours, 26 minutes for you savages). The soundtrack by Robbie Robertson is tremendous. 

Also tremendous is the acting. Leonardo DiCaprio turns in another powerhouse, and he and DeNiro match up well. The show is stolen by Lily Gladstone. Jesse Plemons appears in the third act as the lead Federal investigator and is excellent. The film is laced with great cameos by Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, Jack White, Pete Yorn, John Lithgow, and our reigning Best Actor…Brendan Fraser. 

By the time we get to the third act (at about the third hour), the film curiously resembles GOODFELLAS…as things shift to courtrooms and legal proceedings as the Law finally closes in and the conspirators begin to turn on each other. It’s a very drawn-out conclusion and KILLERS feels like it could have been a lot tighter. Despite this, it ends on a powerful note (including a breathtaking closing shot), and every bit of its weight can be felt. This isn’t just a look at ignored history but a revelation of devasting history. It is eye-opening, it is sobering, and it is colossal. 

BOTTOM LINE: See it