Finally saw it and liked it a lot, but I have some thoughts and criticisms. First, I don’t think it was too long, so no criticism there.
I think I’m just not a fan of Leo when they force him into something more that what he is normally. The underbite was distracting the whole film and some of his lines in that accent were bad.
I also think they made Mollie look really weak and stupid towards the end when they had so much going on in her presence and she seemed to kind of get it but not really. In real life I assume it was more covert and hidden from her before they were caught and arrested. In the film he’s arrested, they know, and she still is in denial. At the time she likely wouldn’t have had much of a voice but they could have portrayed her stronger before the end scene or had it more covert and hidden from her, especially after recovering from the drugging.
Along those lines, I agree with the decision to focus less on Tom White from the book, but agree the focus should have been Mollie and not Ernest. They really tried to paint him as more complex than a bad guy. The book does that too so there’s probably truth to it, but on film it felt off. It also didn’t make sense that they fell in love, she literally only says that he was handsome. Again, the book makes it seem somewhat genuine of a relationship, but it just didn’t feel right on film. I think in real life there was probably far more arranged marriage feel to these inter marriages when everyone knew it was about the money. I just didn’t feel any real sense of romance between them, it felt forced.
Deniro was excellent. Perfect portrayal in my opinion from the book and from what else we know about William Hale.
Fraser overacted, by a lot. He could portray the drama in far more convincing fashion, in my opinion.
Ultimately, as big as Scorsese is and as good as he is, I don’t like how much focus he got from this, including putting himself in the damn film. He very genuinely worked with the Osage, but they were never going to say no, and there was only so much they could do for him to create a genuine portrayal of the Osage people and the times. It just doesn’t feel like his story to tell. I would have preferred someone like Sterlin Harjo directing or at least having a big co-role in the portrayal. I’m very biased though because I absolutely love Rez Dogs. I think a voice like his would have given a better portrayal of Mollie.
Finally, Lily Gladstone deserves the Oscar, period. I met her at an event here in Tulsa and she doesn’t stand out physically, but she had a presence that was intimidating, in a good way, like being in the presence of royalty. And I hadn’t even seen the film yet (loved her in Rez Dogs though so again some bias).
So not a perfect film but well done and happy a broad audience gets to know the story.