Grade:  A

Director:  Martin Scorsese		Released:  December 2002
Writer:  Jay Cocks		MPAA Rating:  R
Players:  Daniel Day-Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio		Running time:  166 minutes

Ratings System

Without question, Daniel Day-Lewis' Bill the Butcher is in the upper class of film villains.  He's a terrific creation and Day-Lewis (as usual) plays him fantastically.  To me, Daniel Day-Lewis is one of the most intense and effective actors ever to grace film.  When he has a good role to play, he's that much better, but he's also memorable in lesser films like The Crucible.  I can't say enough about his work in this movie, he carries a lot of the film.  And for my money, he is the main character, not DiCaprio's Amsterdam.

I really like Gangs of New York.  It's a big film, with a big director and big stars.  Thankfully it did not turn out a bloated, steaming, ego-driven pile of crap; rather, it's a Scorsese classic.  The musical score is excellent as well, another fine piece of work from Howard Shore.

Praise aside, there are some minor issues with the film, but not so many that it ruins the picture as a whole, and I don't even feel like mentioning them here.  I look forward to the DVD, hopefully there will be a companion documentary that chronicles the well-known drama that played out to get this film finished.

- crocoPuffs