Unrealistic and farfetched, however it has some merit!

Rating: Null/10 (9 June 2003)

"Gangs of New York" is not an easy film to watch. It's excessively violent. There's a lot of blood and some disturbing scenes. I don't mind any of those things as long as they are not farfetched as they were in this movie. The violence is so farfetched that you think it's only a movie and that there is no way it could have ever happened. The whole thing goes beyond being realistic, so it becomes forced and unbelievable.
The love story becomes predictable and uninteresting. We don't really seem to have any reasons to care about the love story of Amsterdam and Cameron's characters. It all becomes too farfetched. Daniel Day Lewis is not as great as many people are saying. He seems to be too prepared for his performance, so that it becomes what it is, only a "performance".
Leonardo Dicaprio is miscast. He's much better doing other kinds of dramas or comedies like "Catch me if you Can". You're so used to seeing him as the nice boy that it's hard for him to fit in this part. However, he's passable as well as Cameron Díaz. Her performance is good, though she needs a better script to really show better acting skills. Her performance in the knife scenes is very powerful and strong. Her eyes turn red and when they do, it means they're really getting into the role as if they were living the drama itself.
Martin Scorsese annoys me as always. He annoyed me with movies like "The Last Temptation of Christ" and "Age of Innocence". He seems not to believe in God, since you see Amsterdam throwing the Bible into water (a gratuitous event) and you also see a family praying for their safety, but just as they finished praying, the War begins and people destroy their house. It's as if Martin Scorsese would've said to people "don't believe in God, throw the Bible into the lake, or see that God doesn't do what we ask Him to do). Those things really annoyed me in this movie, and they were gratuitous events. The movie could've been the same without those scenes.

"Gangs of New York" has some good points as well. There are some gripping scenes like the knife throwing scene and the fight between the butcher and Amsterdam. Cameron's performance is outstanding, and Leonardo's return in movies is nice to see. The story is predictable, but you really want Amsterdam to win, so it doesn't bother me.
Overall, "Gangs of New York" has many flaws, but it has good points as well, so it deserves a 6/10