Fails to overly impress

Rating: Null/10 (4 March 2004)

Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio) and William `The Butcher' Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis) are the two central characters in Gangs of New York. Amsterdam lost his father in fight between the Irish immigrants and the Native Americans (who are not American Indians). During the opening battle scene (which plays, unfortunately, as if it were directed by some MTV rookie), Bill the Butcher takes the life of `Priest' Vallon (Liam Neeson). Only a young boy, Amsterdam is sent away to a reform school where he anxiously awaits the chance to take revenge.
The movie picks up in 1863 as an older Amsterdam returns to the savagely impoverished Five Points area of Manhattan. He immediately begins to seek out Bill the Butcher in order to exact revenge. It is this period of the movie that is the best. Amsterdam is still a young man, albeit a hardened young man. Through necessity, he makes friends with some of the most unlikely people and we are left to make our own assumptions of some individuals' motives. Amsterdam meets Jenny Everdeane (Cameron Diaz) and their relationship during this period of the movie is brilliant.

Gangs of New York takes a turn for the worse in the third act. Instead of continuing to focus on the intricate character relationships that it so masterfully and carefully setup through the first 2 acts, the movie decides to become a historical drama centering on the Draft Riots. While the Draft Riots are an important and mostly forgotten piece of history, the audience has invested too much time into the existing micro-relationships for the movie to simply push them into the backseat. The events leading up the riots had always been in the background of Gangs and I was comfortable with them there.
The movie is beautifully filmed for the most part. As mentioned above, the opening fight sequence was strange and had an MTV quality that initially left a bad taste in my mouth. Fortunately, Scorcese finds a tone and style that remains effective and, in some sequences, is almost brilliantly conceived. All of the actors here are superb and, if you can get past Leonard DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz as 19th century hooligans, you will enjoy their performances much more. The real star here, however, is Daniel Day-Lewis. He is not playing Bill the Butcher, the man is Bill the Butcher. He plays Bill with such an intensity, I never once questioned his existence. The music in the film is hardly anything special and works effectively where it needs to accentuate emotion. The set design and costume work is top-notch.
Overall, Gangs of New York is a welcome addition to my collection as it should be in yours. The shift in focus is unsettling, but does not diminish the accomplishments of the revenge story in the long run. The movie would have worked either a straight character drama or a historical drama about the Draft Riots. It does not, however, completely flow as both. Each of the parts of the film are exciting in their own rights but only succeeded in distracting one part from the other. Scorcese has crafted a fine tale and, while not the masterpiece or even Best Picture candidate it was touted as, Gangs of New York is a very good film.