It has been a while since the last time Edward Norton was the lead actor in a major movie but this guy is finally back. Motherless Brooklyn is a crime driven drama where several men from troubled childhoods work in a detective agency. Despite its excellent cast, I don't think this movie delivers the level of entertainment one could have expected.
The story is, in short words, about corruption involving politicians and private contractors and the detectives trying to figure out what is going on. There is a little bit of drama here and there, a little bit of mafia-style violence, but nothing that could make this movie earn a spot on a greatest crime films top list.
Norton's character happens to have Tourette syndrome, which sometimes reminded me of some of the funny scenes in the awesome comedy Toc Toc. Norton did a good job portraying a person with this syndrome but this performance wasn't as spectacular as the one he did when portraying a retarded man in The Score.
I consider the story to be quite slow and the mystery wasn't really as intriguing for me. However, the performances from all those well-renowned actors were very good, and the movie itself is nicely shot. One of the things I enjoyed the most is how authentic the 50s setting looked, it was extremely well done.
I was expecting more from this movie and this doesn't mean the movie is bad, it is just that I was hoping for a more intriguing plot, or perhaps a story more focused on hardcore crime. In the end, Motherless Brooklyn is a very subtle crime film, very slow, with no scenes or moments that can be considered iconic or even close to iconic. I
It was shorter than the Irishman but sometimes it felt like it was longer. Maybe the best way to enjoy this movie is not to compare it with the best ones from the same genre, but rather to appreciate it for what it is, a slow plot where a detective, with a very invasive Tourette syndrome, and his colleagues try to figure out who is behind a murder, and along the way, they discover a much larger criminal framework.
The best
- Good performances from an amazing cast.
- The film is well directed with good looking shots.
- Authentic 50s setting.
The worst
- The plot wasn't very intriguing for me, I was hoping for something better.
- The movie is slow. I usually enjoy watching the director's cut despite these films being much longer than normal movies, in this case, if there ends up being a director's cut, I won't watch it.
More information: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/504562-motherless-brooklyn Review: AA In numbers: 6.5/10
