Not the average run of the mill movie

Rating: 6/10 (5 January 2003)

As I was going to see this film, I already knew what is was going to be about, and before I seen it,I already loved the story concept (even If I hated the title - It should've been called "Ashes of the Irish" or something like that). but for what ever reason they chose to name this film "Gangs of New York", and it wasn't the film I thought it was going to be. First I'd like to say that Daneil Day Lewis played his role perfect. He did so good in his role as the butcher that I cannot imagine any another actor in that role (Really). I also liked the surreal, Dirty,Brutal,Gritty old 19th century New York City setting..I though the sets were fantastic. The Special effects were pretty standard(which means pretty good these days), and Liam Neeson was also very convincing as the boys father,too bad that his character was only in the movie for about the first 15 minutes of the film.
However what hurt this film is that it is way too long, and you almost feel like the director is trying to drag it out further with a series of scenes that have little or no bearing on the story. Cameron Diaz and Leonardo DiCaprio were the way wrong choices for this film. I remeber thinking to myself as I was watching it that Colin Farrell or Ewan McGregor would've been much more better suited for the role of Anstredam than DiCaprio was. And Diaz is much too much of a modern California girl to star in this period film set in 19th century New York City and it shows. Again I found myself recasting that role to Kristen Dunst or Heather Graham who I believe would've been for better in that role than Diaz. Niether Diaz or DiCaprio are convincing and there acting skills are just flat all the way through this film. Another pitfall of this film is the miserable film score. the pulsating hich school marching band style snare drums that continuously play to a fast paced beat actually begins to give you a headache before the film is finished.
Its worth watching at least once...I dont know if it was too much or not enough, this music score is god-aweful, but I gave it 6 stars out of 10.