SPOILERS DOWN THE PATH; THE DISCUSSION BELOW WILL NOT BE COMPREHENSIVE WITHOUT IT.
TREAD CAREFULLY. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.
THIS MOTION PICTURE IS OFFICIALLY AN AFFILIATE OF THE FILMMAKING PARAGONS.
Casino sees the reunion of our favorite trinity combo - Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Martin Scorsese! Every single thing you'd expect to come out of a crime outing from these goodfellas, is here! And oh boy is it delicious!
The plot revolves around Sam's (Robert De Niro) career as a sports handicapper hired to operate one of the most renowned casinos in Las Vegas. While it's all sailing smooth, how the arrival of two principal characters namely Ginger (Sharon Stone) and Nicky (Joe Pesci) completely capsizes our protagonist's ship is what the story's about! From the first car explosion that supposedly claims our hero's life, we are invested in whatever happens next that leads up to this very moment. Sam's wellbeing starts off at a high point! We see how he swindles every casino goers' cash or threatens the ones who try to do him with the hammer. Ichikawa (Nobu Matsuhisa) bet bait is hilarious!
Soon after, we become the second-hand witness to how Sam's everything landslides into a colossal disaster, which begins from his proposal to Ginger. As any flawed character who makes honest mistakes, Sam trusts Ginger wholeheartedly and the biggest mistake he makes here is to give her the sole access to a buttload of treasure. How this entire relationship collapses into a ugly mess is tragic for sure, with drug abuse, child-kidnapping, stealing, cheating and house chase-out being the absolute real tussles here! Although it does make one wonder, if the bank locker key has always been within Ginger's reach in her very dwelling, why didn't she just… steal it before all this commotion?
The uninvited trouble in this concoction is Nicky. An incredibly unstable and impulsive troublemaker, Nicky is introduced as Sam's friend cum bodyguard. But he grows way too powerful, way too domineering and way too larger than life that he becomes literally impossible to bottle down! Robbing spree to killing rampage, there's nothing that'll not make you shiver and at the same time, entertained when this character is around! Mainly because of him, we get to see, in typical Scorsese, certain lifelike action sequences! Squeezing a person's head like a melon, pen-stab murder, shooting in the head that results in a small bullet penetration hole and the murder-burial of Nicky and his brother are bone-chilling!
Primary highlight of this motion picture is the dialogues! Oh God, is it nectar to the ears! It is pure A-grade, earworm writing! You could just sit and play this film as a podcast, it'll make your day! The narration, the lines, the answers and replies are composed of meticulously, beautifully arranged order of words! And the screenwriting is class! Exposition regarding the entire cash flow procedure in the casino, roles in the place with who's watching who, hole-digging description, equal amount of blueberries in a muffin request plus the undercurrent tension during the argument between Sam and Nicky at the deserted desert are only few of the million examples!