Fails to grab your attention

Rating: 5/10 (11 March 2005)

I wasn't too impressed with Gangs of New York, especially considering all it's Oscar nominations. I forced myself to maintain attention during the film thinking that the ending would make all that came before it more valid and worth while, but unfortunately that didn't really happen.
The story is your classic revenge job, although it's set during Civil War times in New York City. The film's good for a bit of a history lesson and the set is unbelievable. But it's not a great lesson in film making. The script is a bit of a mess, the acting is patchy and the plot is boring, the cinematography and directing is much better though.
There's something missing from this film that I can't quite put my finger on. Maybe you could call it involvement. Maybe it was a bit too Hollywood. The bottom line is however I didn't really like Gang of New York. It's not terrible, it has it's good parts, but overall I thought it was a let down. Would I recommend it? Probably not.