Emperor of Cinema Martin Scorsese has another killer movie coming

Martin Scorsese is a lot of things: an underrated actor, the genius behind the greatest movie ever made, and a man who made the terrible mistake of a thoughtful, well-written critique of Marvel movies, once. He is also one of the greatest living American directors, a man of enormous reach, who busted out romantic period movies The era of innocence to the biblical what-if fable The last temptation of Christ, along with several concert documentaries and I suspect some movies about gangsters. Is he the god-emperor of cinema? I have consulted the old texts, and some new ones – like this new one Killers of the flower moon trailer – and I’m struggling to say anything but Damn yes, he is.

Unlike the film’s first trailer, which packs a lot of atmosphere and a light story, the latest look at Killers of the flower moon explains things for those unfamiliar with David Grann’s non-fiction book of the same name. What begins as a true crime story about a series of murders in the Osage Nation turns into a bigger tragedy about the looting of the Osage after oil is discovered on their land.

Reported to run an absolutely stupid three hours and 26 minutes, Killers of the flower moon looks chock full of things that will probably make that time fly by. Forbidden romance, historical tragedy, true crime and a thematic resonance with Scorsese’s earlier examinations of America’s lust for power and the havoc it wreaks – few filmmakers have earned such generosity, but Scorsese is one of them.

Killers of the flower moon opens in US cinemas from October 20.