'Killers Of The Flower Moon' Reactions: Scorsese’s Western Epic Receives Immense Praise And Standing Ovation From Cannes Premiere

Robert De Niro (left) & Leonardo DiCaprio in Killers of the Flower Moon. Courtesy of Apple TV+.

Finally, Killers of the Flower Moon has been screened. The film, initially meant to release last year, had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival earlier today, and reviews and reactions to the film have been pouring in. Following the gala screening, Killers received a nine-minute standing ovation, the longest of the festival, with the loudest applause going to standout Lily Gladstone, who plays Mollie Kyle. In IndieWire’s review, critic David Ehrlich praised Gladstone, calling her “an undeniably major talent” while declaring DiCaprio as the film’s strongest performance, saying that Killers is “sustained by the best performance of Leonardo DiCaprio’s entire career.”

The film, set in 1920’s Oklahoma, follows members of the Osage Nation as a series of murders tears apart their community as outsiders attack them in hopes of getting their land and oil. The Atlantic’s David Sims, in a word, called the film “colossal,” also giving praise to Robert DeNiro (portraying William Hale), saying that “it might be the best work he’s done with Scorsese since Goodfellas.” Matt Neglia of NextBestPicture made sure to acknowledge Scorsese himself, describing him as “[a] master [who] has not lost his touch and is still, at age 80, finding new ways to push the medium forward.”

For as good as these reviews make Killers sound and however badly you want to watch it, most viewers will have to wait until October 6, when the film arrives in theaters, or October 20, when it arrives on Apple TV+ permanently. For now, unless it’s programmed at festivals like Venice or TIFF, it’ll be a long five months as we await Scorsese’s latest.

See what the top critics are thinking about Killers of the Flower Moon here.