It's 1863. Amsterdam Vallon returns to the Five Points of America to seek vengeance against the psychotic gangland kingpin, Bill the Butcher, who murdered his father years earlier. With an eager pickpocket by his side and a whole new army, Vallon fights his way to seek vengeance on the Butcher and restore peace in the area.
You have to honor its mad ambition. But sadly, it feels like a dream too long deferred.
– David Ansen,
Newsweek,
14 Jan 2003
rotten:
What we're left with has the patness of a history lesson about our roots and the melting pot and what it means to be an American.
– Peter Rainer,
New York Magazine/Vulture,
16 Jan 2003
fresh:
The result reverberates on the screen with a deadly force and fury more intense than anything Mr. Scorsese has yet achieved on the meanest and most beloved streets he could imagine or recall.