While I wouldn’t call this a ‘really shitty Scorsese movie’, it does have that feel of a watered down pastiche of his work. A lot of what makes Scorsese films interesting to me isn’t here. Mike Newell gets what makes a Scorsese character on the surface, but it’s often missing the tension and great dialogue. A lot of the emotional risk is also toned down. The filmmaking is serviceable and purposeless, it’s not unpleasant to look at but it doesn’t have those elaborate tracking shots or emphasized push-in shots. The score is straight up awful, often setting the completely wrong tone for a scene. Like, if you compare this to _Boogie Nights_, which came out in the same year and also copied Scorsese’s style quite shamelessly, PTA’s attempt is so much more well studied and memorable. This film is really relying on the story and acting, both of which are fine but it’s nothing mindblowing. Pacino isn’t required to dig all that deep here, instead he just relies on what’s worked in the past. Depp’s quite refreshing in a way because he isn’t hiding behind eccentricities or make-up for once. The story keeps a good pace, it’s a pretty straightforward retelling of events that’s entertaining on the surface, but not leaving you with much to chew on. I just don’t get why it’s so well remembered, everything about it screams average to me.

5.5/10