One of the most fascinating aspects about Casino is that, unlike Paul Verhoeven’s Showgirls (another excellent film set in Vegas) and Goodfellas, Scorsese’s picture doesn’t simply revel in Sin City’s glitz. In fact, the movie is almost as much about the city of Las Vegas as it is about the gangsters that run it.
During the opening sequence, with its echoes of Goodfellas’ Copacabana interlude, a Steadicam glides around the rooms of the Tangiers hotel, past an interior that is at once lavish and seedy. Inside, the mobster Sam “Ace” Rothstein (De Niro) skims money off the top of cash registers while he watches gamblers lose their money.
Scorsese’s camera, along with the aforementioned soundtrack and narration, makes the first act feel like an entertaining behind-the-scenes documentary. But as the story progresses the film evolves from its fast-cut documentary approach into a more conventional narrative and its narration becomes less prominent.
Although this move removes some of the cinematic energy from the film, it doesn’t diminish its power. The acting is superb. De Niro and Sharon Stone are outstanding, with the latter delivering what some critics claim is her best performance. Joe Pesci is the real deal as well, portraying a shrewd mobster that most men would aspire to tame, and whose menace far exceeds his short frame. And while the film may be harsh in its depiction of mafia life – including some truly hellacious violence (a torture-by-vice scene complete with popped eyeball and a horrifically edited and sound-designed baseball bat beating that had to be trimmed for an NC-17 rating) – it also rises above anything petty, giving voice to the way that the mafia’s system of control inevitably eats itself alive.
