Daniel Day-Lewis Saves the Day

Rating: 7/10 (30 January 2008)

The movie as a whole was good, but not great. What was great however was Daniel Day-Lewis' performance of Bill the Butcher. Without him this movie would've received a 5 star or lower rating. Leo isn't a bad actor but he was terrible here, not at all believable. Cameron Diaz had the worst Irish accent I've ever heard, that was a huge casting mistake. I liked the portrayal of Boss Tweed and I liked Brendan Gleeson in this.
The story wasn't anything special. Typical boy trying to avenge his father's death sort of thing. Visually it looked good and I admired the attempt of bringing a seemingly lost era of American History to life but if you read the book "Gangs of New York" you'd see many a historical error. Another thing that bothered me was hearing The Butcher go on and on about how he respected the Priest and such, yet a man essentially cut from the same cloth, Monk (Gleeson), he had no problem bushwhacking from behind (that has nothing to do with Day-Lewis I put that all on the writers).
Overall watch it you'll enjoy it but don't expect the world of it.