Excellent Scorsese epic

Rating: 9/10 (1 March 2003)

Okay, so Marty DOES seem more comfortable doing modern, urban dramas, but since this is his dream project, I don't think it'll kill anyone to give it more respect than they might want to. Its a fine movie, if not entirely successful.
The plot is pretty thin but its the characters that make the movie. Daniel Day-Lewis is riveting as Bill the Butcher, who pretty much runs the entire show. Everything that happens is filtered through Bill's eye (the fake one) and what he says goes. DiCaprio is Amsterdam, who gives an understated performance, and more power to him. He knows Daniel is the better actor and has the better part in the movie. They can't BOTH be larger than life, so Leo wisely lets his co-star run with it. Ditto Cameron Diaz, and the rest of the cast.
Kudos to Marty for getting it all right. I enjoyed the movie very much but did not feel as satisfied as I would have liked at the end. Still, I hope Scorsese wins his first Best Director Oscar at the end of this month. 8/10.