However I feel as if Casino was him at his most distilled. Marty has, of course, done this before and since. You root for their death but mourn the uncertain future it leads to. You are able to look at the characters with true malice and disgust at their actions, as you were as much a victim of them as the rest of the cast. This film puts you so directly in the inner psyche of a person-turned-monster driven to rationalize every action they take, that by the end you feel devastated and miserable. God, does any film make you feel more emotionally abused than this one? I don't say that flippantly. Goodfellas may be more critically and commercially acclaimed, however I truly find that Casino is the one of the pair that really represents the apex of Scorsese's gangster/crook oeuvre.
