MovieChat Forums > The Irishman (2019) Discussion > De-aged De Niro laying down a very "gran...

De-aged De Niro laying down a very "grandpa" beatdown


LOL! I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be laughing or if it was supposed to be a serious dramatic scene. I've never seen De Niro look so much like an old man as he did in that scene. They really should have used a body double.

reply

It's the worst scene in the movie, and, I think, only accentuates the limits of CGI elsewhere in the film, basically inviting attention to the film's biggest weakness, honestly can't believe they kept it in.

reply

You can whine and complain the rest of your life if you want to, but the CGI stuff is only going to get better

reply

Not sure how I'm whining? As a Scorsese fan, I'm just expressing my displeasure with the scene, which seems to be shared by at least some others.

reply

How is Joe wrong, it was a horrible scene, laughable, 80 year old trying not to fall over while giving a few kicks.
I just recently saw Dolemite and that first action scene of Eddie doing his karate behind the car was of better quality action and that was meant to be hilarious.

reply

Shut up you dope, it’s a message board and people are sharing opinions about a scene. Go back to licking your crack whore mothers used up......

reply

I don't think anyone has a problem with the CGI. It was fine.

The propblem is that here we have a a man that looked in his late 40's with the body of a man in his 90's.
His punches and kicks were so weak, I think the store owner stayed on the ground out of respect.

reply

I can look at virtually any movie that has any violence in it and complain about it just for the sake of being a pain in the ass. All the fight scenes where some tough guys takes down a whole room full of opponents for example, or where a 90 pound girl bests a man 3 times bigger than her. Movies are fantasy, and fights are things that are faked in movies, and can often get people hurt. So, say that for the movie side of it.

But, on the human side of it, or even the animal side of it, there is not just a violence contest going on in most fights. The aggressor will often puff up and display, and the loser cower or show submission to avoid further injury.

To me, this is just such a nothing issue.

Global warming is an important issue, the fight between two characters in a movie is pointless.

reply

Agreed completely.

However, the topic at hand isn't about trying to find things to complain about in virtually any movie featuring violence. Nor is it about "taking out a room full of guys" or "90 pound girls".

The OP started a thread specifically about one scene in one movie. To say, "well this movie doesn't do it any better" isn't actually a rebuttal to the discussion. It's just a classic case of what's called a "straw man argument".

That aside, that scene WAS (imo) one of the worst in the movie. It completely shatters the suspension of disbelief because it's very apparent that De Niro is in his 70's, as he moves like an old man throughout the scene.

It looked like he was hitting him in slow-mo.

reply

Global warming is an important issue, the fight between two characters in a movie is pointless.

Of course Global warming is an important issue, but we are on a message board discussing movies.
For the purpose of the post, the fight between two characters in a movie is not pointless.

reply

That scene took me out of the movie. It did not make me think that Frank could whoop anyone's a$$.
I was waiting for the next line in the movie to be a voice over about how Frank was suffering from arthritis.


reply

^ This ^.

I was thinking the same thing kind of. Not arthritis, though.

"And after Sheeran's dislocated hip healed, he was discharged from the hospital and went back to working for Russ".

Not literally, of course. But that's where my head went for sure.

De Niro's character was lucky the grocer didn't just one-punch him to death lol.

reply

The de-aging/ageing effects throughout the movie were good enough that I could over look it, except for that scene. That's the only time they couldn't make DeNiro look like a young man.

reply

Well, there was also the time he was throwing something (Molotov cocktail?), and it was clearly and 80 year old 'lady throw'.

reply

arthritis

reply

Yeah looked so obvious....especially the geriatric stamps on the victims hands.

reply

Yup, it felt like watching a Steven Seagal film.

reply

Ouch! Lol

reply

Or Johnny Knoxville from Jackass....

reply

Haha yeah that was a little rough. The guy getting the geriatric beat down...he could have easily just rolled away, got to his feet and walked away, instead he has to lay there, hollering for mercy while gramps positions himself for the only stomp his crippling arthritis will allow for.

Lol a very grandpa beatdown for sure.

reply

I assumed it was a reference to Sonny in The Godfather missing that one punch by a mile (although, the rest of that scene in The Godfather is *savage*)

reply

It was an important scene because it sets up his daughter’s revulsion at his criminal ways, it needed to look much better than it did. It would have been so easy for a younger actor to play it then digitally paint De Niro’s face over his.

I get the feeling we could see a longer version of The Irishman, perhaps split into episodes, and if so they might fix this scene. Wouldn’t be too complicated to erase De Niro from the shots and insert a more believable figure. Unlikely this will happen, but possible.

reply

I don't get her problem with the beating. The guy at the store pushed her and her Dad gave him a beating. I see nothing wrong with that. I think Frank did the right thing.

reply

I would say it’s a disproportionate response and seeing a man beaten, humiliated and maimed by their father is likely to disturb a sensitive young girl.

reply

Many reviewers made reference to this scene and noticed how old De Niro looked (and same with Pacino's body, which kind of stood out in scenes with the younger Hoffa).

Technically, it'd be possible to completely have a young man's CG body but I would imagine the budget costs and delays would've increased dramatically. As Mark Kermode said, if this is one of the film's leading problems (Pacino and De Niro's bodies were always that of a 70-ish year old man), you're still in a good place considering the major fundamental problems that other films have. And the performances are so riveting, they can make us accept it and overlook it.

reply

You wouldn't need a young man's CG body. You'd use a young man's body with Deniro's face digitally transposed.

This wouldn't be that difficult. They used the technique in an entire movie in The Social Network.

reply

Reading you comment just gave me a headache.
You are correct and at which point do we find new actors.

reply