A Gutsy Watch: “Killers of the Flower Moon” was underwhelming, graphic and stereotypical

Not even the most realistic haunted house or gruesome scrape could have prepared me for the scenes that “Killers of the Flower Moon” brought.

“Killers of the Flower Moon” aka a bloody nightmare, released on Oct. 20, and was directed by Martin Scorsese. It’s overall underwhelming with no storyline creativity or sensitivity for viewers.

The film, based on a non-fiction book, focuses on the lives of main character Ernest Burkhardt and his wealthy uncle, William King Hale — played by Robert De Niro — as they manipulate the Osage Native Americans to obtain their oil money wealth in 1920’s Oklahoma. “Killers of the Flower Moon” seeks to expose the white men who abused the Osage Native Americans for their money.

Excessive violence in the movie distracts from its message. Within the first 15 minutes, the characters plot the murders of all the other side characters that haven’t even hit the screen yet.

After hearing hair scraped off a body with a saw or seeing flesh ooze off another body like spaghetti sauce dripping off a spatula, I started to wonder if IMDB mis-categorized the movie as a “drama” film instead of “horror” one. The R rating didn’t even prepare me for the gore.

Burkhardt meets his future wife Mollie Kyle played by Lily Gladstone 30 minutes into the movie — way too late to introduce a key character in the plot. Burkhardt, who works as a horse-drawn carriage driver, picks up Kyle in the town square to drive her to her home. Although this was likely the norm in the 1920s, I still wasn’t pleased with the unromantic setting of this scene: horse-poop-filled streets and violent bars — not the ideal situation to meet the love of your life.

To top off an already lackluster beginning, the two began their relationship hating each other and slowly started to fall in love — following a cookie-cutter beginning like every other film.

Sticking by the classic harmony-to-tragedy blueprint, the directors didn’t even try to differentiate themselves from other Hollywood movies. There’s four stereotypical court scenes and three classic doctor’s office examination room scenes.

One hour into the three hour long movie, I found myself breaking the cardinal rule of Cinemark: no devices. As the flow of “Killers of the Flower Moon” slowed down to a snail’s pace I couldn’t take it anymore: I checked my phone every 30 minutes and groaned as I noticed I still had more time left.

To complement the slow pace, “Killers of the Flower Moon” had under-developed scenes and difficult to understand themes. For example, the delivery of the theme of the movie wasn’t even clear.

Sitting in his candle-lit bedroom, Burkhardt reads aloud from an Osage Native American children’s book:

Do you see the wolves in this picture?

Burkhardt laughs as the wolves are clearly standing in the middle of a grassy meadow.

The viewer isn’t given long enough to look at the picture to form a visual-verbal connection between Burkhardt’s quiet mumbles and the book.

I had to do further research after the film to find that this scene also serves as a theme for “Killers of the Flower Moon” — wolves, or people, can hide in plain sight.

Burkhardt and Hale were the “wolves” — savage animals — in the town, yet their actions went unnoticed for the majority of the time. I appreciated this small allusion to the Osage Native American children’s book that could have been followed throughout the movie. However, the directors chose to distract the viewers with so many other small details like doctor’s prescriptions or meal plans that I lost track of this concept by the conclusion.

Finally, at the end of a three-hour saga of blood and guts, I prepared myself for a pathetic attempt at tying all the pieces together in a movie finale. To my surprise, I enjoyed the ending — a twist on my perception of how the story was told.

Instead of lazily throwing text on a black screen to reveal the character’s outcomes, the directors chose to tell it through a late night horror TV show skit complete with a band — one of the few moments that redeemed the otherwise basic storyline for me.

Though the directors likely hoped viewers would be pondering the theme for days after, I couldn’t get over their unoriginal and ridiculously gory storytelling.