I can´t believe it... SPOILERS

Rating: 2/10 (18 February 2003)

Everybody knows Scorsese is a terrific director. After all, "Taxi Driver" and "Goodfellas" are certainly two of the best movies ever.
But I´m sorry to say that this time he just blew it! This movie, in my opinion, is a waste of perfectly good celluloid! Here are the reasons why I think this film sucks: 1) Too long ! I don´t know what happened, but perhaps Mr. Scorsese got a little carried away when shooting "the movie that he always wanted to shoot". Result: very boring 2 hours and 40 minutes, when this film could have been done in just 2 hours. "LOTR" was fine, but "Gangs" lacks the storyline for a movie with such length. 2) Leo Di Caprio. His acting is so inexpressive, he could have been replaced for a cardboard dummy of himself. I just couldn´t find other feelings for his character other than boredom. Amsterdam is clearly the "hero" of this movie, but he just hasn´t got the guts to be one. Oh, his "accent" just SUCKS big time. 3) Weak plot. Yeh, yeh, yeh: my dad just got killed by his nemesis, so I´ll have my revenge when I grow old.First:I´ll get close to him. Second: I´ll gain his confidence. Third and main part:if everything works out, PAYBACK TIME ! Oh man, didn´t I heard it all before somewhere ? 4) Lots of continuity mistakes. Per example: the part where Amsterdam makes a toast to Bill the butcher, his glass is half-filled with wine.
Next shot: his glass is EMPTY !! Next shot: FULL AGAIN ! Whoa, those guys can drink REALLY fast, huh ? And what about the extras STARING at the camera at that first battle (natives X dead rabbits)? DUHHHHH ! 5) Cameron Diaz. I think that she´s in this film just because of her (great)looks, because her character just doesn´t matter to the storyline. Picture this movie without her. Any changes? Not for me. This film isn´t good. But let´s face it: Daniel Day-Lewis saves the day here. His acting is superb. In my opinion, Bill the butcher is the main character of this film, instead of Amsterdam "Look-my face is glued" Vallon. And the photography, soundtrack, costumes and everything technical was great. But if technical stuff really made movies good, XXX would have gotten the Oscar for best film. My grade for "Gangs": (4/10)