People in limited release cities - have you or do you plan to see it this weekend? Please post your reviews here. I'm really curious to see how good it is. If it's half as good as it's hyped, then I'd be happy.
I saw it earlier today (god, I love my winter work hours) Daniel Day Lewis deserves an oscar nod, and the film is beautifully made. Beyond that, I can honestly say I wasn't overly impressed; perhaps because you come to expect so much of Scorsese, but to me it seemed as if Martin just didn't have his heart in this one. The film was big and broad and beautiful, but it had no soul; Leo Decaprio was as flat as my kitchen floor, Cameron Diaz wasn't much better. The film was slow, and frankly pretty uninteresting. And I never have understood the drive in New Yorkers to celebrate their criminals. But as I said, Daniel Day Lewis was great.
This is a near impossible film to convey. Many good things but many bad. The characters are so thinly written that basically it's up to each actor to make them come to life. Lewis succeeds in spades. Diaz and Dicaprio do not. The editing toward the end is choppy, probably from the cuts that were ordered. But on the whole, I have to say, this film may have needed the Weinstein-ordered cutting. It hurts the continuity, pace and flow. Some scenes feel short and unbuilt. But it was so long that I couldn't believe at the end tht half-an-hour had been cut. ANd I love many long films. ALso, horrible soundtrack in parts, and a really annoying voiceover that was so overly explicative that you would think that Steven Spielberg had written it. Complaints aside, it's heartening to see a big bold vision on the screen. It's one of the most completely imagined 19th century visions since ... well,,,, Heaven's Gate. In fact, what Heaven's Gate is to the western, this seems to be to the eastern, although this film, to my recollection, is more successful. I'll write an eppinions review and link there later.