Daniel Day-Lewis steals this movie

Rating: Null/10 (29 December 2002)

I never was a big Daniel Day-Lewis fan, but I must say, he gives a great performance in this movie. In fact, they should just hand over the Best Actor Oscar to him now instead of waiting until March 2003 to give it to him.
Day-Lewis plays one of the greatest villains in movie history. Complex, dark, and some-what likeable, his portrayal of Bill the Butcher is the main reason to see this movie. Day-Lewis' acting is magnetic and powerful--and it draws you into the movie even more. You don't want him to lose; then again, you don't want him to win either. You are torn over this character and it is all because Day-Lewis does such an amazing job in making this character three-dimensional. Sometimes, the villains are the ones you want to root for (like Denzel Washington in Training Day).
Martin Scorsese has created another classic to add to his already illustrious career. Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, and Jim Broadbent round out a great cast in a story about the roots of America's greatest city--New York.
Gangs of New York shows that America was built on the blood, sweat, and tears of its people. Blood was spilled on the streets for many reasons: honor, money, and to force people to live and conform to a certain way of life. For years the blood-shed had no real purpose or direction, and then the politicians came and started to use these gangs to their advantage.
Like in all of his films, Scorsese really doesn't try to preach at you. He shows you the events and allows you to make the decisions of right and wrong; good or bad. Before I saw this movie, I thought this was going to be another showdown-revenge movie between rival gangs. . .but in the end, I realized it was more than that.
The biggest gang of them all was the United States government and the politicians. The government did the same things the local street gangs were doing--lie, cheat, and steal--but on a greater scale.
Many people fear change and try to stand in the way of progress. But the movie shows that no one can stop change; and those who try to end progress are pushed aside into history.
This movie gets my highest recommendation.