A Tremendous Achievement

Rating: 9/10 (1 February 2008)

I was eleven when this film came out. Of course, I couldn't see it, but I still managed to book tickets for my dad to go, as a late birthday present. When I asked him what he thought, he said that it was brilliant. Since then, I have been incredibly eager to see it.
I finally saw it a year ago, and was amazed. Gangs of New York is a film with a grand sense of scale and spectacle, the incredibly detailed sets and props all portraying a corrupted and immoral world of gangs, riots, racism and other large issues of the time.
In fact, Gangs of New York sometimes tries to handle a bit too much, with the many issues all battling for decent screen time, along with the film's revenge-driven main plot. It is not necessarily a bad point about the film, but it would have been nice if Scorsese had tackled fewer sub plots. Sometimes, you can be a bit too epic. Also, as a result of this, some characters don't feel as developed as they should be (such as Johnny, a friend of one of the lead characters who eventually turns into a traitor).
However, these are the only flaws that I can see throughout Gangs of New York. Eager to give the New York setting as much detail as humanly possible, the production crew has created something truly memorable. Every street feels authentic, every costume feels infected by the time in which the film is set and most of the characters feel individual.
Of course, when it comes to the authenticity of the characters, the praise should largely go to the actors portraying them. The supporting cast is brilliant, with actors such as Liam Neeson, Brendan Gleeson and Jim Broadbent delivering great work in sometimes truncated roles. Broadbent particularly deserves applause for his terrifically entertaining performance as a corrupt politician who is only interested in one thing; winning.
As for the leads, they are also fine. Leonardo DiCaprio delivers an emotionally credible performance as a man seeking revenge for the death of his father (as depicted in the film's opening and gruesomely stunning battle sequence) whilst Cameron Diaz is also mature enough to convince the audience of her character's plight. However, all of the other actors cower under the rip-roaring force of one Daniel Day-Lewis.
Day-Lewis fully captures the audience's attention from the opening onwards, eliciting brute force along with an unstoppable love for America. He is one of those murderers who the audience can't help but be drawn to, and performs with such passion that his character is utterly believable. His portrayal quivers with power, most notably in the scene where he describes the power of fear in a bedside discussion with DiCaprio's Amsterdam. It is an exceptionally grand performance, and will certainly not be forgotten by myself for a long time.
Steven Zaillian's script is expertly written, never shying away from the nasty side of the story. People are killed with cleavers without their murderer ever even flinching. A policeman is strangled and strung up for everyone to see his corpse. A man is forced to kill his friend. This isn't a very nice story, and Zaillian complements the fact with nasty yet human dialogue, which sounds like it has been spewed from the depths of the character's condemned soul. He also provides some fine pieces of humour, which aren't out of place in the film's bloody plot, yet provide some relief from the almost never-ending slaughter.
Conducting all of the blood and guts is Scorsese. As I said before, he sometimes tries to add too many subplots into the mix, but overall, his direction is superb. He crafts the film with great skill and intelligence, rewarding the more expectant viewers instead of mocking them. Also, even though some of the subplots aren't really handled successfully, there are moments of pure perfection when Scorsese manages to mix in the main story with other events.
As Amsterdam and Bill the Butcher (Day-Lewis) march away after a confrontation with Boss Tweed (Jim Broadbent), the camera pans away to a group of immigrants who have just landed in New York. They are immediately being sent to fight in the Civil War, and are boarding a ship sailing for the battlefield. As they are boarding the ship, coffins containing dead soldiers are being shipped over their heads into the harbour. This is an exceptional shot, one which shows the indifference of the Americans in the face of the suffering which has been endured by the immigrants. These people sail to America in search of a better life, and in return, they get sent to die.
Gangs of New York may be flawed, but it doesn't let its bad points drag it down. Scorsese keeps everything moving nicely, right up to the bloody depiction of the Draft Riots. Here, Scorsese can be seen at his best, releasing pure, bloodthirsty pandemonium as people storm the streets murdering and pillaging, whilst always keeping his eyes on the central characters and their plight. Another excellent moment takes place in this period of the film. When the police close in on the rioters, the rioters become trapped. They are ordered to break up, but they don't. There is one second of intense silence, then the police open fire. The result is a violent and graphic bloodbath, with Howard Shore's tremendously passionate score pounding in the background. It is a truly gripping and poetic moment in the film, and is deeply moving.
At the end of it all, Gangs may have its flaws, but they don't stop it from having a huge impact on its audience. It is moving, tragic, passionate and heroic, and is outstandingly presided over by Martin Scorsese and Daniel Day-Lewis. It was a tremendously challenging film to make, but it has been made with a huge amount of creativity, brains and heart.