Stylized and silly

Rating: Null/10 (25 December 2002)

Scorcese continues to have style, as other recent films of his have demonstrated. But like with those films, he really doesn't seem to have much of a reason to be making movies anymore, except to display his flair with the camera. The story here is utterly banal and Scorcese's decision to base the plot on real historical events only makes the movie more annoying. Scorcese also cannot himself from falling victim to a film code that is apparently inviolable now-- his chief protagonist just happens to be an Irish-American devoid of any racial prejudice, going so far as to befriend African-Americans. That this fictional protagonist should display such far-sighted tolerance in a film that has the New York City anti-Black draft riots as a backdrop only adds to the irritating silliness of the plot. Scorcese would be a little more interesting if he had dared to feature a racist as the hero (and if he had done a fade-out of the WTC in the silly scene that appears in the movie). The film drags, but there are some fun moments.