King Of New York

Rating: 8/10 (26 March 2003)

Gangs Of New York Dir: Martin Scorsese 4/5
The tale of Gangs Of New York has been reported time and time again as the story of a tyrannical butcher who chops and cuts, crushes and destroys: Miramax studio boss Harvey Weinstein. Weinstein apparently enforced cuts to Martin Scorsese's epic new film from a bloated four hour running time to a more manageable 168 minutes. What damage (or good) this did to Gangs will no doubt be the speculation of movie geeks for many years to come but is actually irrelevant. What remains is a powerful, exciting and unusual work, which is undoubtedly the first must-see film of 2003.
The other butcher in the tale of Gangs Of New York is Bill The Butcher (Daniel Day-Lewis) the criminal leader of the 'Five Points' which form the heart of New York in the mid 19th century. At the start of the film he is challenged by his archenemy Priest Vallon (Liam Neeson) for control of the points. Priest Vallon's gang are the Dead Rabbits, they are Irish and tired of being treated as second-class citizens. Bill The Butcher's gang are the Natives, who believe that all the Irish and other immigrants are trespassers. A battle between the two huge gangs follows and Vallon is slain by Bill the Butcher. All this is watched by Amsterdam, Priest Vallon's son, who escapes capture and comes back 16 years later to seek his vengeance.
The most immediately striking thing about Gangs Of New York is just how poor the opening battle between the two gangs is. It is full MTV-style, full of cuts of blurred action to a rhythmic score that sounds like 19th century techno. The obvious reasoning behind this is that Scorsese is trying to do something different to show that Amsterdam only has a vague memory of this battle that happened when he was just a small child. But ultimately it just doesn't work. It is so bad that if Scorsese did not have such a weighty reputation, it would be dismissed as bad filmmaking. It is so bad that it actually takes a few scenes for the film to recover. You are left with thoughts of what could have been if this had been a longer, more violent, coherent battle sequence and how much of a boost this would have given the film.
However, thankfully, the film does recover. We follow the grown-up Amsterdam (Leonardo DiCaprio), who infiltrates the Butcher's gang, growing in importance in power until he is ready to take down his enemy. A lot of people may think that almost three hours is a long time for an archetypal story of revenge but the film is much more than a story of gang conflict. Scorsese is trying to cover much more - he is trying to show how this period in New York's history influences how the city and indeed America is today. Much of the film does not directly feature Amsterdam or Bill the Butcher, but the issue of the civil war draft, inequalities between rich and poor, corrupt politicians and election rigging and rich and poor inequalities. The last image of in the film of New York fades through the decades to show New York today, showing that this time is really the building blocks for the modern day city.
The performance by DiCaprio in only his second role since Titanic - which is a comment on how long this film was delayed as much as it is on DiCaprio's work ethic - is very good. He seems to have suffered most in the post-Titanic backlash but he is one of the most talented young actors in Hollywood today with charisma and range. However, Cameron Diaz as Jenny, Amsterdam's lover, outshines him. It's quite a one-dimensional role but Diaz brings a lot of spunk to the part. It's good to see Diaz acting instead of just performing with her massive smile and fantastic body. But both are eclipsed by Daniel Day-Lewis, persuaded to return to acting by Scorsese after a five-year hiatus. He blows his fellow actors off screen with his complex character. Bill the Butcher is not a man that's all about power and greed but he is a man whose only thrill in life is conflict and who has never really recovered from the death of his rival Priest Vallon. Some moments in his performance are spine tingling, changing emotions in a split-second. Day-Lewis is an absolute certainty to be nominated for a Best Actor and would be a worthy winner. The lead trio are well supported by Jim Broadbent as the corrupt mayor of the city and John C. Reilly as a duplicitous policeman. The only poor performance is by Scottish Gary Lewis, who plays an Irishman but still sounds like he came from a rough side of Glasgow.
The performances are not the only brilliant thing about Gangs Of New York. The sets, apparently two miles long, are vast - the film probably takes place in fifty locations. After the opening battle there is an amazing crane shot, which zooms out until the people are the size of ants. Scorsese has created his own world. It looks and feels like nothing ever filmed, authenticity jumps from the screen.
The script has received criticism for being convoluted and shabbily structured. It certainly could have been tighter and certain things, like the importance of the 'Five Points', could have been explained better. Perhaps this is the fault of there being three talented but very different screenwriters on the project - Jay Cocks, who wrote Scorsese's other period drama The Age Of Innocence, Steven Zallian (Schindler's List) and Kenneth Lonergan (Analyze This). However, while the screenplay is not the most coherent or fluid, it still contains several magical moments. Every second or third scene is absolutely brilliant. The beauty of Amsterdam waltzing with Jenny holding a candle, a scene remenicent of the 'mook' scene in Mean Streets where Amsterdam decides whether or not to take offence at being called a `fiddlin' Ben', a scene where Bill the Butcher demonstrates his knife throwing skills with Jenny. There are many, many more but they are best left for you as a surprise.