Summary
- The latest trailer for Killers of the Flower Moon provides a glimpse of the central performances and teases Martin Scorsese’s crime drama.
- The film, based on a true story, explores the Osage Nation’s wealth from oil and the exploitation and murders that followed.
- Killers of the Flower Moon has received critical acclaim, with Scorsese’s vision and Lily Gladstone’s performance being particularly praised.
The latest trailer for Martin Scorsese’s upcoming Western, Killers of the Flower Moon, further teases the seminal director’s crime drama as well as offering a more extensive look at the central performances from Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, and Lily Gladstone. Coming courtesy of Apple Original Films and Paramount Pictures, Killers of the Flower Moon has been called “Scorsese’s most innovative and best movie in decades.” Check out the newly released trailer for Killers of the Flower Moon below.
“At the turn of the 20th century, oil brought a fortune to the Osage Nation, who became some of the richest people in the world overnight,” the official synopsis for Killers of the Flower Moon reads. “The wealth of these Native Americans immediately attracted white interlopers, who manipulated, extorted, and stole as much Osage money as they could before resorting to murder.”
Based on a true story and told through the improbable romance of Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone), Killers of the Flower Moon has been described as “an epic western crime saga, where real love crosses paths with unspeakable betrayal.”
Directed and produced by Academy Award winner Martin Scorsese, who co-wrote the screenplay with Eric Roth, and based on the 2017 book Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon features an all-star cast that includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, Robert De Niro, Jesse Plemons, Tantoo Cardinal, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, Brendan Fraser, John Lithgow, and Jillian Dion.
Killers of the Flower Moon Has Been Met With Critical Acclaim
Killers of the Flower Moon premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival back in May to widespread critical acclaim, and currently stands at 97% on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes. David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter praised Scorsese’s vision saying, “The three-and-a-half-hour running time is fully justified in an escalating tragedy that never loosens its grip — a sordid illustration of historical erasure with echoes in today’s bitterly divisive political gamesmanship.”
The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw meanwhile scored Killers of the Flower Moon a perfect 5/5 saying, “This is an utterly absorbing film, a story that Scorsese sees as a secret history of American power, a hidden violence epidemic polluting the water table of humanity.”
While Collider’s Therese Lacson applauded the performances from DiCaprio and De Niro, but ultimately called it Lily Gladstone’s film.
“But it’s Gladstone’s performance as Mollie that really takes the cake. An unflinching woman who is strong-willed and enigmatic, Gladstone makes the most of her character, conveying all the agony and strength that is required of a woman who is almost constantly mourning.”
Killers of the Flower Moon is now scheduled to be released in theaters in the United States on October 20, 2023, by Apple Original Films and Paramount Pictures. Following several changes, the Western will now also land in IMAX theaters as well as having a wide theatrical release, before being released on Apple TV+ at a later date.
