Don't Think of It as History

Rating: 8/10 (13 October 2009)

There is certainly a lot of carnage. There's also a little confusion as to motivation. However if you don't try to look at this as an accurate portrayal of history and treat it as a bit of a fantasy, it plays quite well. We have wonderful adversaries who posture and primp. It was more of a nineteenth century gangster film (a little Godfather thrown in) and a tribal sort of thing with all the ritual and righteousness. Lets face it, it's just a bit much, including the Hollywood ending. It did remind me a bit of the Kurosawa movies where there is not a spot unbloodied ground left after the battle scenes. Daniel Day-Lewis is charismatic. He is the reason I would watch this movie again. He absolutely eats up every scene he's in. DeCaprio is a bit boring to me. What he represents is a lot more than what he does. Never got into him. Nonetheless, it's big and impressive with great cinematography. Did anything really get settled. I don't know.