Slow, but good acting and cinematography moves it forward

Rating: Null/10 (29 December 2017)

"Gangs of New York" is set in 1863 and follows the story of Amsterdam Vallon who returns to the Five Points area of New York City seeking revenge against Bill the Butcher, his father's killer from 16 years earlier.
Set in a time of the Civil War the division within five points and NYC is reflective of the division in America at the time. As Amsterdam fights to avenge his father's death he faces several challenges. However his does eventually avenge his father's death. At the end of the movie it is evident that though they were fighting one another, at the end of the day they were all Americans as most of them died not by the hand of the other group but die as casualties of war.
The actors do a good job of moving the slow plot forward. This was done through complex character development throughout the movie. As the characters develop relationships with one anther the actors use that to move the plot forward. The acting was very complex and detailed.
Throughout the movie there were several scenes that were not completely relevant to the overall plot of the movie. Thoses scenes could have been cut out to shorten the movie and move the plot along quicker.
The visual effects though at the beginning were not well done, do improve throughout the movie. The movie as a whole was very well shot and they did a very good job recreating NYC in that era. It was intriguing how they showed the changes NYC had gone through since that time.
Overall, the movie though excellent and representative of that time, it had several points which made the movie less interesting. Therefore, I would rate this movie at 7 stars.