Gangs Of New York

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Cameron Diaz
UK Certificate: 18

Every decade, Martin Scorsese makes one truly great film: in the '70s it was Taxi Driver, the '80s was Raging Bull and in the '90s he gave us GoodFellas. Now we have the epic Gangs Of New York, a visually astounding movie that - despite failing to scale the heights of his previous work - will still rank as one of the films of the year.
Set in the mid-1800s, the Five Points area of the Big, rotten Apple is an eye-gouging, skull-walloping place where rival gangs the Dead Rabbits (Irish) and Native Americans (British/Dutch) do battle. It's a language all the residents understand, and one that Amsterdam Vallon (DiCaprio) has spent his whole life living by. As a boy his father (Liam Neeson) was murdered by the frighteningly mutton-chopped Bill 'The Butcher' Poole (Day-Lewis) and Amsterdam has sworn revenge... a quest that not even the love of Jenny Everdeane (Diaz), a kindly pick-pocketing Jezebel, can distract him from.
Inspired by Herbert Asbury's 1928 book, brought to life on huge, budget-busting sets in Rome, and after months of post-production editing, Scorsese's vision is finally here. It's been worth the wait.