Braveheart Meets Mean Streets

Rating: 8/10 (13 January 2003)

In spite of the egregious miscasting of DiCaprio and Diaz, this is a significant piece of moviemaking and should not be missed.
Daniel Day-Lewis virtually carries this film singlehanded. His villainous swagger, convincing (and surprising!) New Yawk accent, and brutal, in-your-face control of every scene he's in is worth the price of admission. DiCaprio, whose boyish and bland demeanor is much more suited for the teenage antihero of "Catch Me If You Can", is completely lost here, and could have trashed the entire film had Day-Lewis not been so strong. Diaz is about as passionate as a lamp-post and is nothing more than window dressing in a part that calls for a dark, torrid, sensual and controlling woman. I'm surprised and disappointed that Scorcese let the casting be so shallow.
An interesting dichotomy in "Gangs" is the sets: interiors were fabulously deep, rich in detail, and convincing, while the exteriors were about as real as an MGM tour in Orlando. It is entirely lost on me why this production schlepped to Rome to come up such backlot-looking, phony sets.

But don't despair - the intelligent, historically accurate and informative script, the direction, and Lewis' tour-de-force combine to produce a film "event" that you should certainly see on the big screen.