"Gangs of New York" shows us a world that we never knew existed

Rating: 10/10 (6 July 2005)

Gangs of New York is one of Martin Scorsese's greatest films. The scope of this film is enormous and overwhelming. It was actually the first Scorsese picture that I ever saw, and after viewing it, I was so impressed and immediately went to the video store to rent some of his other films such as Taxi Driver and Goodfellas. Wow. This movie blew me away. Daniel Day-Lewis gives, what I believe, to be one of the greatest performances that I have ever seen in film. He is a perfect villain who will haunt your dreams for years to come. It is really hard for me to believe that, after gaining 10 Academy Award nominations, Gangs of New York went home with nothing. This is an outrage. This was the best film of 2002, and it was wiped out by Chicago!?! The opening battle sequence in this film is one of the best that I have ever watched. Scorsese nailed it. Another sequence that has always stayed with me is the one in which a building is burning and two different fire departments arrive at the same time. However, instead of working together to extinguish the flames, the two fire departments do battle and then raid the neighboring building, which was perfectly fine. I understand that events like this did occur in New York during that time period. The world of Gangs of New York is real, or at least it was. Scorsese resurrected it to show to the world.