Paul Day

Two and a half hours into the film and I was non the wiser on where I was being taken. Character and storyline development was sidestepped for a vulgar expression of the American psyche - overt sexuality, the glorification of the abuser with no reference at all to the abused, excess without meaning.

Many seem to believe that this is the crowning achievement of both Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese. DiCaprio clearly lacks the depth of character that he has shown in many of his previous movies. He seems to have taken a step backwards, yelling, screaming and over-acting at every instance. As for Scorsese, more and more over time I am missing the point of his movies. They are - dull and lack the intelligent treatment of characters that he had in his early films.

There are times when you seriously question why directors going off on major tangents in their careers, and why some wonderful actors continue to follow those directors. It is certainly time for DiCaprio to get out from under the shadow of Scorsese who seems to be slowly losing the plot.

I did not enjoy the film in the slightest.

It was stomach churning, pretty horrific and brutal. Clearly the film follows the New Testament scriptures closely, but unless you know the broader "story" you can leave wondering what the point is.

The comments I heard coming out of the US before release about anti-semitism do confuse me. This was about the corruption of power and politics of the religious leaders, rather than about Jewish people. The whole film was about Jewish people, those who tried to help during need and those who sought to protect their position. If anything its a reminder that religious dogmatism is destructive.

It's only half an hour after and I still feel kind of sick. Great movie? You be the judge.