Was it big? Yes, Was it Good? Yes, Was it long? Yes, Is there awards in its future? Yes. Was it the best picture of 2002..No. Martin Scorsese-s film about the draft riots of the civil war, and the gang riots for territory in New York has a huge scale and it-s all up there on the screen. Leo does ok, Cameron not so good, but Daniel is simply amazing. Broadbent and Gleason are also amazing, as usual. There are not a lot of fancy Scorsese shots in the film. Long cave walks and occasional slow-mo are the extent of it. There was more of a straightforward Amistad feel to the film, a little dingy and very dark. The shots of five points and the housing of the immigrants around it are very interesting. My biggest problems were Diaz-s accent, the plain boringness of all the second gen actors,and the lack of release at the ending. This film wonderfully builds the tension for 2.5 hours then the ending becomes so large and scattered that it loses its focus. The movie is a great piece of celluloid but not a great film. Once the riots started and the blacks blamed, the galleria audience started to get restless, but nothing to bad. Harry Knowles of AICN nailed it for me: “I was far more interested in seeing the movie that would have ended with that opening battle than the movie that began with it. “