Daniel Day-Lewis, A+. Martin Scorsese B.

Rating: Null/10 (6 January 2003)

Daniel Day-Lewis was simply amazing. I felt his presence, even when he wasn't on camera. For example, after he shows Vallon how to slice a pig, Vallon enters into a wrestling match with another man. But all the while I felt Bill's foreboding presence over the scene. I read in an earlier post by Kevin Kaiser that Bill is a caricature of America itself. I think that's true. Unfortunately, the best doesn't always win at the Oscars, but he deserves it.
Leo DeCaprio was better than I expected. But the "love story" with Cameron Diaz didn't work for me at all. The "scar" scene was laughable.
I wish that Scorcese had chosen a different book for his source material, one actually written by a historian. "Five Points" by Tyler Anbinder describes a much more compelling 19th century Lower East Side NY setting than what we see here, and (best of all) it is historically accurate. Finally, I don't understand the obsession with such intense graphic violence and nudity -- after a few bludgeonings and naked breasts I think I got the point that Five Points was a nasty place, Marty.