American Folklore

Rating: 8/10 (3 March 2003)

"Gangs of New York" is a great film, dominated by Scorsese's style and contains an in-your-face quality that few other films have. A huge influencing factor in this movie is the ability of Daniel Day-Lewis to make his character, Bill Cutting, one of the great villains - full of menace at every turn, yet intelligent, determined and strangely rational. Bill 'The Butcher' Cutting could have easily been a vaudevillian bad guy, moustache twirling and all, but Mr Day-Lewis gives him qualities that make him the true character center of this film.
Jim Broadbent as Boss Tweed is also worth mentioning. Tweed's political manipulations are entertaining to watch and provide an extra dimension to "Gangs...". Of the main actors, DiCaprio and Diaz are sufficient in what they do, but "Gangs..." suffers from their unneeded relationship scenes. The true focus of this film is the city of New York itself and its impact on those who lived in its boundries during its formation - Scorsese's love of NYC comes clearly across on the big screen, along with his willingness to look at the bad sections along with the good.
Another reviewer compared the fight scenes in this movie to those from "LOTR: The Two Towers". I found I was much more involved in the brutal gang fights of "Gangs..." than I ever was in the massed battles of "LOTR:TTT". Those who have a low tolerance for violence may find "Gangs..." a bit graphic, but what did you expect from a Scorsese film?
It should be said that "Gangs..." is more american folklore than american history. Certainly the major events in the film occurred, with many of the attitudes of the film reflecting the attitudes and lifestyle of the time, but "Gangs..." certainly isn't a history lesson. Even the book it draws so much material from is considered a suspect historical source, written by a journalist who recorded the exaggerations of urban tales. That said, it doesn't diminish "Gangs..." impact at all. Scorsese always loves doing things that are larger than life on the big screen and "Gangs..." is no different.
"Gangs..." major failing is it's ending. I felt a bit dismayed that such an epic film resorted to a fairly unsatisfactory conclusion that was almost completely separate to what had been driving the rest of the narrative. All in all, this is a small point - "Gangs of New York" is a powerful film that overcomes a few flaws in its portrayal of some great american folklore.