If Daniel Day-Lewis doesn't get serious Oscar consideration...

Rating: Null/10 (29 December 2002)

I've never really been a big fan of the epic, and while Gladiator was "pretty", it wasn't near as great as people made it seem. Here, Gangs of New York comes along and redeems the genre.
Martin Scorsese's career long dream is finally realized, and in grand fashion no less. Gangs is nearly flawless, with well-written dialogue, an excellent score, and plenty of brutal action. One can understand why the movie cost so much when they see the set, built in its entirety complete with weathered buildings and cobblestone streets. Gangs has the opportunity here to rake in a slew of Oscar nominations.
The acting for the most part is sound, with notable exceptions to Daniel Day-Lewis as William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting and Cameron Diaz as Jennie Everdeane. Day-Lewis's character is incredibly believable, at times causing my heart to mercilessly pound in my chest. He is generous and sophisticated, yet at the same time egotistical and wicked. His penchant for punishment and skill with his carving knives is intimidating and commanding, of both respect and subordination. Basically, Daniel Day-Lewis scared the sh*** out of me, at one point causing me to tremble, with my heart beating out of my chest. Yeah, he was good. Cameron Diaz also turned in a great performance, her character being a talented pickpocket/con woman who falls in love with the main character Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio). I was impressed with her consistency and emotion, and her inner struggle played out well, following the plot as it moved along. It's refreshing to see her doing more challenging work, as her last couple movies were chick flicks and gross-out comedies. She's definitely talented and I look forward to more of her work.
There were however a couple flaws that really stuck out to me. All throughout the movie, DiCaprio is narrating over the score, and the thing that bothers me the most is that it was not the Irish accent he spoke with during the movie. I'm not sure if Scorsese was implying that DiCaprio's character was looking back on everything as a middle-aged adult who had grown to lose the accent, but it irritated me every time he spoke in that manner. Another problem is DiCaprio's consistency. While his acting was strong on the whole, he seemed to be wavering back and forth between Irish and New York accents. Finally, there was just things in the background that seemed to steal the moment from time to time. It was little things that sort of threw off the committment to the period, but then again, I was sitting in the front row, so everything may have been a little skewed to me.
One other thing I want to mention about this movie is the score. It's an interesting style they went with, something one would not necessarily thing could go with this movie. For me it was definitely a complement to the movie, adding to the darkness of these people's lives and instilling discomfort and dread of the inevitable in me.
There's nothing more I need to say. Just go see this movie. I'll definitely go a few more times. Five stars.
And by the way...
If Daniel Day-Lewis doesn't get serious Oscar consideration, my faith in the Academy of Motion Picture Sciences will be all but lost.