Don't get me wrong - I don't have a twisted fascination with ultra-violence. However, a film depicting the sorts of goings-on we're talking about here wouldn't be worth a pittance if it didn't show you what these men were lining up to do to one another.

I suppose it's all about gaining some perspective. As an aside (this post was originally intended to be about Martin Scorcese films), I have little or no respect for the morons who complain to newspapers and television companies about the graphic nature of images shown in the name of news. I'm sick to the back teeth of people in this country having no concern for others being randomly blown to pieces for no good reason in Israel, for example. A healthy dose of photographic horror would go some way to getting some sort of emotional response from these idiots. Indifference is not an option, as far as I'm concerned.

I like to get a real feel of how terrifying this kind of violence is. Gangs of New York is relatively irrelevant, I'd say. Saving Private Ryan, on the other hand, is a very good example. Despite many historical inaccuracies in the film, I think sitting through half an hour of frightened young men being dismembered, eviscerated and decapitated in full surround sound emphasises one of the most important aspects of the real event - the sheer horror of it all.

Scorcese done a wonderful job with the initial fight scene. However, although I can't quite put a finger on it, the whole film went a little downhill after that. And it wasn't down to lack of gore. Di Caprio wasn't as terrible as I first imagined he would be. However, had the story been different, and Liam Neeson continued through the film as Daniel Day Lewis' main rival, the overall casting would have been superb. Believe everything you read about Lewis' performance! His moustache is something to shout about too.