Too long, Too much Leonardo, Too little actual history

Rating: Null/10 (3 July 2003)

Gangs Of New York is a very ambitious attempt by Scorsese to invoke a time and a place that most Americans are completely ignorant about. In some ways he succeeds brilliantly, but all in all, the movie fails to deliver. Daniel Day Lewis is a force of nature...incredible to watch. Every minute he's there...the movie totally grabs your attention. Decaprio on the other hand, seems totally miscast. In some movies he may be a fine actor, in this case however, he was apparently chosen for the potential box office rewards of inserting a "hot" young star in a big role. Actually I found it hard to believe that a slight, pretty boy like Leonardo would last 5 minutes on the mean streets depicted in the film. And finally...the movie was way too long.