Scorsese does it again

Rating: Null/10 (16 January 2003)

Daniel Day Lewis comes off an early retirement to do this film. Woah, was it worth it. Remember that tall clean shaven guy with a hint of native indian in his voice from the Last of the Mohicans....abracadabra, he's gone and is replaced by Billy the Butcher, a painstakingly slow talking, moustachioed, fake eyeball wearing, Bronx speaking native of New York. What a transformation! If you thought he was good in Mohicans just wait til you see him hear. Awesome. In each of Scorsese's recent gangster films, we see one character far more evil than anybody else near the screen. In both Goodfellas and Casino this part was played by Joe Pesci who is one of the most disturbing characters ever portrayed. Bill the Butcher comes close. That insanely deep blue-eyed stare and the twitchin' moustache are just plain scary.
O yes, and there was a film attached to this character wasn't there. Gangs is a great work by Scorsese definitely up there with Casino, if not quite Goodfellas (a film anyone is going to be hard pressed to topple). The scene is 1860s New York and the five points. Here instead of his usual cast of Harvey Keitel, Robert deNiro, Joe Pesci et al. Scorsese decides to use a slightly different set of players. Leonardo DiCaprio plays the "hero" and his leading lady, Cameron Diaz.
Amazing camera shooting is a definite highlight. Best moment? when McGinn kicks open the doors at the beginning so Liam Neeson can march his gang out into the street. As in all of Scorsese's greatest films we see the whole plot unfold through the eyes of two characters. The Butcher and Amsterdam (the Priest's son). As in Goodfellas and Casino we are forced to follow and do exactly what the characters on the screen are doing and as a result we feel it when Bill savagely head butts Amsterdam in the face and cringe when he throws a knife into Monk McGinn's back. Woah, that Day Lewis again, what an actor!!!
The only problem with this picture is the ending. The whole theatre was poised for the mother of all gangland battles and all we got was a half-hearted excuse for a tussle. Bill the Butcher the hardest, most solid guy in the Points really should have beaten the stuffing out of that little upstart Amsterdam but the trifling army just gets in the way of what would have been a epic battle. Obviously a symptom of the fact that Scorsese tried to incorporate the main story, and the story of New York's Civil War experience into one film. However, apart from this one glaring error the issues raised here are very well presented. Especiually the plight of the african-american trying to live in the city.
Overall, top film. DiCaprio was good; Day Lewis was.....what can I say; and the ending was shoddy. Good one Marty