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Since I have quite a few thoughts on this movie, I will try to break them down somewhat so I don't ramble.
ACTING: 9 out of 10
First of all, the acting in this movie was superb. Daniel- Day Lewis should get an award of some sort, playing the evil-but-honorable-but-pseudo-psychotic villain. DiCaprio also pulls off a performance that surprised me, I don't usually associate his name with the phrase "good actor". Cameron Diaz cannot put forth as dominating of a performance, she was comparably unimpressive. All in all however, great performances.
Cinematography: 7.5 out of 10
There really isn't much that can be said about this...
Story: 6 out of 10
And here comes one of my only problems with Gangs of NY... This movie was TOO FUCKING LONG. By about an hour to be exact... I know they wanted to preserve some semblance of historical accuracy, but the true climax of this film comes around 90 minutes into the movie. Then, another 90 minutes of story wrap-up... and an anti-climactic ending that really could have been handled better. This is an example of how editing can affect a film either positively or negatively, and it was the latter in this case.
Sound/Music/FX: 9 out of 10
The sound effects definately leave out any possibility of falling asleep, they are loud and crisp, definately adding to the realism of battle. You can actually FEEL them in a good theatre. Another part of this film that added to the realism was the gore, a Scorcese trademark. I'll just say there was a lot of blood, and everything looked very real. Music, was appropriate and well placed.
Overall: 7 out of 10
A good film... not great, but worth a try if you don't mind an overlong, ambitious epic about the struggles for power in The City as it was 150 years ago.
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