to many entrees, too much time

Rating: 9/10 (11 July 2003)

Almost always when I indulge in a buffet my selection of entrees makes very little sense. I take what is available and pile one taste upon another until the whole mess tastes like slightly crunchy rubber. Then when I "finish" my overindulgence comes the I can't believe I ate the whole thing syndrome and the vows not to return until I run a marathon or at least play a round of executive golf. Which leads me inevitably to Gangs of New York.Each of the individaul entrees look interesting... Danilel DayLewis...Leo... Liam.....Cameron...Broadbent...Robbie Robertson...Scorsese...Reilley...even U2...New York City.... and even an unrecognizable David Hemmings for God sake and you've got a buffet say that makes about as much sense as piling lasagna on scrambled eggs and putting the whole thing over french fries, tuna fish, squash and peanut butter. Something epic has been created, something barely digestible, something thought provoking and worth the money but something that in the end leaves a "whaddafug was dat?" aftertaste.
I can't believe how many movies Scorsese supposedly waited three decades to make. Gangs of New York is yet another one joining Kundun and Last Temptation of Christ and The Age of Innocence (right there we're talking nine decades alone whihc is ninety years...how old is this guy anyway?). I wish he would return to movies he took only a few years to make like Mean Streets or Taxi Driver or King of Comedy instead of these ingenious, awe inspiring works of overincubated art fart that no one seems to enjoy as much as the man who dealt it. (I keep thinking of Marty at the Oscars as his presumed night of homage deteriorated into humiliation and shutout. That weird smile.The caterpillars etc.)
Macbeth spoke of life as ound and fury signifiying nothing. Scorsese's got the sound and fury right but the implication is that it all signifies something and right there the picture starts to go wrong.
Butcher Bill is a great character and Lewis should have gotten the Oscar. I'm a big Leonardo fan but gotta say he was miscast. He might have been good in two movies that were left out of this movie....sixteen years at Hellgate and the Rallying of the Dead Rabbits...perhaps also the missing love story between Dam and Jenny but Scorsese obviously didn't have the time to go there.
Still for sheer effort alone and the fact that only Marty could in fact make this kind of exquisite mess...I gotta give Gangs an eight out of ten.