A celebration of violence.

Rating: 7/10 (16 January 2005)

Violence can be absolutely fascinating. Scorsese knows this all too well. Look back at his career and you can see some of the most malevolent behavior captured on film. Gangs of New York plays out like a big; colorful orgy of despicable characters doing rotten things in a truly wicked environment. There are lags in the action to be sure, and there are at least attempts at character development, but when it's finally over, all you're likely to remember is the violence. Or perhaps you'll still be in awe of Daniel Day-Lewis, as I was. And why not? His character was the most violent.
Gangs of New York is a film that cannot figure out what it's really about. It's about a lot of things, but there seems to be an absence of any central theme or idea. Is it about a young man scheming about getting revenge for his father's murder? Sometimes. Is it about the struggle between early immigrant gangs and gangs of people born in the USA? Sometimes. Is it about political corruption? Sometimes. Is it about draft riots during the civil war, and the Union's inability to convince people who hate blacks to die for them? Sometimes. There are also scenes dedicated to fire brigades, stealing from rich people, and public hangings, too. Only in the film's final scenes does it attempt to bring all of these things together.
I'll grant Scorsese the benefit of the doubt and tell the world he did a fine job of depicting how violent New York was during the 19th century. If his film was trying to tell me something more, I guess I missed it.
So sayeth the Hound.