In previous Scorsese gangster epics Goodfellas and Casino, the flashy and the vulgar were on display for the audience to luxuriate in and be repulsed by in equal measure; here there’s nothing particularly fun about the lifestyle. Equally, the bland Frank Sheeran contrasts with Goodfellas’ anti-hero Henry Hill, who since childhood has a romantic fixation with the power and glamour of mafia life. If anything, of all of Scorsese’s criminal protagonists, Frank Sheeran is the one who most casually drifts into his position; he’s just sort of there.

In spite of the unusual nature of his life’s work, he seems almost noncommittal; he just does what he does, to the extent that it seems mundane to him. In that respect, The Irishman seems like it’s put the typically supporting ‘cartoon heavy’ into the spotlight – character-wise, he’s not dynamic or exciting; he’s a cog in a larger machine. But Scorsese and De Niro use Sheeran’s void-like quality to underline the moral ugliness of what he does. He is willing to internalise any dissent he feels towards his masters, making him as effective as it does frighteningly empty.

A rebuke to his critics

As of late, it’s been a habit of more casual Scorsese fans to associate him only with his crime movies. In truth, he’s a wide-ranging artist as interested in genteel literary adaptations and in rediscovering classics of world cinema as he is in gang violence. But because of the flashiness and popularity of Goodfellas and Casino – and the ability to track those interests back to his earliest films, like Mean Streets – it’s been easy to characterise Scorsese as a mere chronicler of wise guys. In its own subtle way, The Irishman offers a rebuke to the critique that has plagued Scorsese for years – that he sympathises with or fails to condemn his amoral characters. This has been especially true since the release of The Wolf of Wall Street, which concerned itself with white-collar criminals and was pilloried in some corners for its refusal to take sides. The Irishman is far more plainly moral in the way it stands in judgement of its characters.