Not believable

Rating: 2/10 (21 January 2003)

Leonardo DiCaprio is once again caught in a historically flawed movie, only this time much worse than Titanic. I grew up in lower Manhattan and am a history buff. This movie is very, very overdone. Way too "Hollywood", too "stagey" (like that fight at the beginning, give me a break), over-violent, and (as in Titanic) with an liberal smattering of historical cliches. If the Five Points area was as depicted, everyone would have been dead ten times over. Not to say that it wasn't a very bad neighborhood, but it, and the characters, were not believable. DiCaprio was miscast as a tough guy (unlike in "Catch Me If You Can" where he was cast perfectly), although he did very well, given that limitation. The only reason that I give this movie even a 5 rating is that Daniel Day-Lewis gives an absolutely riveting performance as William the Butcher.