An engaging look into a seldom mentioned history of NYC

Rating: 8/10 (16 April 2004)

When Gangs of New York was in preview, I grew excited to learn that a master of NY filmmaking was presenting a piece of interesting history of the city. Having watched New York by Ric Burns, I was well informed about the period that Scorsese was about to recreate. To say that his attempts were somehow sub-par would be just wrong. Scorsese does a great job in painting the canvas that was 1860's lower NYC. And by also displaying the trials of the immigrants attempts gain respectability in the new land.

Essentially, the format is similar to Titanic, in that a closer fictional story is surrounded by the historical truth. I do not know about Amsterdam Vallon or Bill the Butcher or whether they even existed. But their characters do much to propel the movie to success.
I enjoyed the acting, I thought Daniel Day Lewis deserved Best Actor. But I also could see a Colin Farrel in the role that Leo played - although I enjoyed his performance as well. I am not too sure about the significance of Cameron Diaz's acting, I think a large group of other A-list actresses could have done better. For example, would it not have been interesting to see Kate Winslet and Leo reprise the chemistry they had in Titanic? Clearly this picture was better than Chicago and the Academy should of rewarded it as so.
Spoilers ahead -
If I could get back to Lewis as Bill the Butcher - As vicious as antagonists come. That mutton in the back of the man running for Sheriff was brutal. And why not just kill Leo when he had the opportunity? Because he was also honorable, true to his conviction in his beliefs. His eventual downfall is his reluctance to change.
The conditions of the environment were squalid. Life was very hard back then. The struggles of the day to day actions would make most people quiver today. The absence of true law itself was humbling indeed.
This movie did not perform as the blockbuster it was promoted as - but if you watch I am sure that you will agree that Scorsese again takes a piece of NY history and preserves it for posterity.
***1/2 out of ****