Cool Top Hats

Rating: 6/10 (2 January 2003)

This movie was long. Too long for me.
I did like the costumes and sets though. Those top hats with the blue sashes looked awesome. Great sets and a disturbing story made Old Tymey New York a beautiful 19th century nightmare.
What people did to each other back then was pretty sick. I'm sure we've got some nasty stuff now too but I never imagined it on such a large scale. Scorcese is always the guy to dredge up the most disgusting human behavior. While I appreciate seeing the dark side I never knew about, I wondered if he can direct anything NOT about organized crime.
The story, to me, really wandered. I wasn't sure what Leonardo was trying to do and I don't think he was either. We've all felt that way about ourselves but when it's time for the movie to build to a climax, I don't think it should seem so spontaneous and vague. The story made it tough to love or hate any of the characters. Very lukewarm.
Daniel Day Lewis did a great job playing a murderous jerkwad.
This was a great looking movie. But the story was long and vague.