Casino is the first movie to delve deeply into Las Vegas’ dark side. Most films show only the glitz and weekend partying, but this one shows the seedy underbelly of the gambling mecca, including its violent and corrupt history. In the hands of a lesser director, Casino could have become a caricature of evil, but Scorsese is careful not to overdo it.
He uses violence to underscore the ruthlessness of his characters, but never for shock value. He lets the viewer see the torture of a man with a vice, the attempted murder of De Niro’s character by a car bomb, and Joe Pesci’s character being buried alive in a cornfield. He also allows his characters to fall victim to their own greed and viciousness. It is difficult to find good guys in a movie that depicts so much violence, treachery, and avarice, but there are some glimmers of hope. The most notable of these is Sharon Stone’s performance as Ginger McKenna. She builds on her star-making turn in Basic Instinct, but she is a full-on femme fatale here, seducing and manipulating men with her blonde beauty and unstoppable energy.
While Goodfellas and other mob movies focus on the professional lives of their characters, Casino focuses more on the personal life of its main character, Sam Rothstein (Robert De Niro). His relationship with loose-cannon Nicky Santoro gives the film more depth than the repartee between the two in those earlier films.