A quite excellent piece of cinema

Rating: 10/10 (31 December 2015)

How did this cinema feature earn my praise?
Well, as any of my friends, family, and teachers can tell you-I have a really low attention span. I tend to judge movies by if I can tell how much time has gone by, and how restless I have gotten.
If I get restless after ten minutes and don't wish to endure a minute more, that's a pretty poor movie. If after three hours I feel as if maybe an hour or so has gone by, and look at the clock with wonder- then, the movie is a truly excellent watch.
Gangs of New York managed to hold my attention for it's entire length; it accomplished this because it did not hold your hand, block your vision, or bore you; it gave a slightly romanticized look into the lawlessness and chaos of early New York; it managed to show the excessive violence of the times without the violence being the only thing. Many action movies rely only on action to carry themselves forth; Gangs of New York managed to have extremely large portions of graphic displays without the feeling that the violence was the only draw to the movie. Rather, the relations between the characters took place upon the context of the violence.
It's world building was done excellently, in a manner described as "Show, not Tell"; however there were monologues that explained the world on basis. But these monologues and other conversations that explained the context did not feel forced, as if they only existed for the viewer, but instead they felt natural, giving us an insight into the character's lives, thoughts, and emotions.