I know it’s not just me that’s noticed big movies are getting longer. In the recent words of the great Alexander Payne: “There are too many damn long movies these days.” I think about sitting down for all 180 minutes of Oppenheimer, 182 minutes of Avengers: Endgame and 192 minutes of Avatar: The Way of Water, and that’s over nine hours of my life to think about. So when I took a gander at the runtime of Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, which is an epic 206 minutes long, I was very much intimidated about being in a theater for all that time.
As a movie buff and a professional who reports on the film industry for a living, despite the runtime slump of Killers of the Flower Moon, I decided to stick it out and go to the dang thing. Goodness knows I’m not going to be able to focus on it at home once it reaches Apple TV+. Also, I was really interested in seeing the story, which based a nonfiction crime book come to life through the filmmaker’s perspective, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Lily Gladstone as the stars. While I was not stoked for the runtime going in, I need to share my thoughts about my experience after taking it in.
Generally, I’m Not A Fan Of Long Movies
I’m a big fan of movies that don’t overstay their welcome. Oftentimes I think when directors come out with overlong runtimes, they need to put their egos aside and learn to edit themselves rather than keeping audiences hostage for longer than one needs to. Now, Martin Scorsese defended the Killers of the Flower Moon runtime when he shared that people often sit in front of the TV for that long, and thus should be able to "give cinema some respect."
But when it comes to being in a movie theater, where it's likely I’m going to need to use the bathroom within three hours (as someone who hydrates like they are supposed to), get hungry or get bad luck and be seated next to someone annoying, it's really not the same as being at home. If theaters and filmmakers reinstated intermissions, however, I’m happy to withdraw most of what I just said.
How Killers Of The Flower Moon Commanded My Attention
When I sat down for a 6 p.m. screening with my popcorn and drink, as soon as it began, I noticed myself thinking about the runtime and getting worried if I’d regret my evening plans. But I was easily swept up in the storytelling that takes audiences back to 1920s Oklahoma at a time when the Osage Nation were wealthy people following the discovery of oil under their land.
I have not read the book the movie was based on, and thus was not necessarily familiar with this point in history where indigenous people in the United States held power and wealth. I was immediately drawn into learning about it, and Scorsese masterfully found a way to immerse one in that history while also developing an intriguing cast of characters. Once the setting was established, the first scene with DiCaprio’s Earnest and De Niro’s William Hale introduced a dynamic between family members that only became more interesting as the movie progressed. I realized it's not long just to be long; there's a lot to tell here.
Why Scorsese Earns Every Minute Of Flower Moon
After coming out of Flower Moon, I’ll say something I rarely say about movies that long: it earned every minute! I did leave briefly in the middle of the movie to go to the bathroom and refuel my drink, but I don't think I missed anything massive. I truly felt like Scorsese made the movie so long because he wanted to honor the true story and develop the circumstances of the Oklahoma murders of the Osage people, get into the specifics of the investigation, and honor the emotions involved across multiple parties. I’m so happy I experienced it in theaters.
I went away from the movie wanting to learn more about the topic along with learning what, why and how these horrible events at the time took place and why I was unfortunately just being exposed to it, while also finding it entertaining and not really feeling the runtime. (We've all been in one of those movies.) Where was this in my high school history classes?
Why I Actually Appreciate It As A Long Movie
With Flower Moon, there were a lot of distinct decisions in the editing room (and in the script writing stage, especially considering the movie was rewritten during development) to faithfully tell the story from multiple perspectives rather than focus more on the investigation like the book apparently does.
I found Flower Moon also earned its runtime by telling such a complex and compelling story. It felt like the runtime was a device that the filmmaker used to his advantage to communicate the exhaustion of the onslaught of grief and trauma Lily Gladstone’s Molly is going through as she watches much of her family die at the hand of the white men close to her. Scorsese told The Irish Times that the horror movie Midsommar was an inspiration for the pacing, and I can totally see why that choice was made and how it worked on me. Because for Molly, what’s going on is a horror movie, and illustrating her experience through runtime was so clever! Of course, we are talking about Scorsese here.
Yes, I would watch an entire miniseries on the subject, but for three and a half hours, Scorsese commanded the attention of a big screen, where I was fully discouraged to look at my phone. There’s something especially powerful about experiencing this film in all of its glory in a theater. I’d also say this topic deserves three and a half hours of your time, especially if you live on what once was indigenous land, and Scorsese absolutely makes a good use of its runtime.
Check out CinemaBlend’s Killers of the Flower Moon review, as it’s most certainly one of the best 2023 new movie releases thus far.
