It was like Inglorious Basterds to me. Great individual scenes, but mashed together in an unfocused way, especially the third act where Scorcese decided the riot was going to be the main character instead of Amsterdam and Bill.
Daniel Day-Lewis gives an incredible performance, and any scene with him in it is interesting. Leo DiCaprio however, is lacking, along with Cameron Diaz. And somehow Diaz winds up the love interest of every main character in the film. Weren't there other women around? It seems more attention was paid to the art direction/production design/technical achievements than to it's story and the structure of such. The film runs pretty long, especially for a movie that lacks a streamlined narrative. Not that it needs to be that, but I think it tries to dazzle people more with set pieces devoted to spectacle rather than devotion to characters.
I think the suits got too involved considering the cost of the project and wanted to see all of that money up on the screen and the film as a whole suffered for that. Listen to the commentary with Scorsese, he doesn't mention the film once. Only the history of the actual events depicted. I only give it five stars because a great deal of my disappointment is that it is a Scorsese film, and I've come to expect better.
Daniel Day-Lewis gives an incredible performance, and any scene with him in it is interesting. Leo DiCaprio however, is lacking, along with Cameron Diaz. And somehow Diaz winds up the love interest of every main character in the film. Weren't there other women around? It seems more attention was paid to the art direction/production design/technical achievements than to it's story and the structure of such. The film runs pretty long, especially for a movie that lacks a streamlined narrative. Not that it needs to be that, but I think it tries to dazzle people more with set pieces devoted to spectacle rather than devotion to characters.
I think the suits got too involved considering the cost of the project and wanted to see all of that money up on the screen and the film as a whole suffered for that. Listen to the commentary with Scorsese, he doesn't mention the film once. Only the history of the actual events depicted. I only give it five stars because a great deal of my disappointment is that it is a Scorsese film, and I've come to expect better.