My "Oh, Come On!" Moment

Rating: Null/10 (25 December 2002)

(Major spoilers ahoy.)
This movie had a prime example of one of my Movie Conventions I hate. It's called the Shockingly Bad Things Can't Happen to Big Stars.
You might remember one time this was broken in "The Cowboys," when Bruce Dern became the only "name" actor to shoot down John Wayne - from behind. Dern got death threats for his impertinence.
Well, we don't see it in this movie - but we ought to. Amsterdam (Leonardo diCaprio) attempts to shoot Bill the Butcher (Daniel Day-Lewis) during a gathering. Bill just found out that his almost-adopted son is really the son of his most formidable opponent, "Priest" Vallon, who he killed over a decade before. It doesn't take a genius to know that Amsterdam will just keep coming after the Butcher if he gets the chance, and the Butcher is no fool.
Keep in mind, too, Bill became king of the Five Points area by being a ruthless sadist, imposing visceral fear on all those around him - who are just as vicious as he is, if a lot less stylish.
Bill has Amsterdam thrown down on a table. Does he kill him? Does he mutilate him severely, at least make him useless to Cameron Diaz, if you know what I mean?
Nah! He can't do that! This is Leonardo diCaprio! So he burns him on the cheek with the tip of his knife and lets him go. Soon the burn looks like a cute little sunburn scar.
And then the final climatic duel. If you could put diCaprio and Day-Lewis completely in character, and have them fight it out and script be damned, who would you bet on? Well, my money would be solidly on Day-Lewis/Bill. He showed so much more potency than diCapiro/Amsterdam. But we know characters' displayed ability doesn't win contests in movies - box office appeal does, and that's why the duel turns out the way it does.

By the way, I did like the costumes and the sets, so I'm not calling it a complete loss.