The Irishman

Frank Sheeran is an Irish-American truck driver and war veteran in mid-1900s Pennsylvania. He meets mob boss Russell Bufalino and becomes a trusted helper and hitman. The story follows Frank as he works for the mafia and grows close to union leader Jimmy Hoffa over many years. The tone is slow, serious, and heavy. It is about crime, loyalty, friendship, and regret as Frank looks back from old age.

This movie is a long crime drama about power, loyalty, and getting old after a life of violence. Viewers mainly see gangsters, unions, political pressure from the past, and Frank’s empty later years. The cast fits the time and setting of Italian and Irish crime groups. Public talk was mostly about the movie’s length, the de-aging effects, acting, and whether Frank’s story about Hoffa is true. Other talk focused on how little the women speak, which is left-side criticism about roles for women, not complaints that the film is “woke.” Normal viewers would not walk away thinking this is an identity-politics or social-justice movie.