brilliant spectacle / mediocre conventional drama

Rating: 8/10 (15 February 2003)

"Gangs of New York" is a deeply flawed film from Scorsese. It's certainly not a flawed masterpiece as many have asserted, but rather is an at times brilliant spectacle, but just as often a mediocre conventional drama. Scorsese seems too intent on making a big film with big set-pieces but has failed to devise this within a coherently constructed framework. Ultimately the film's greatest problem is one of intention  it seems to be about everything and nothing and finally rounds off in a confused mess. The final reel is perhaps the weakest 20 minutes in all of Scorsese's work. Some other shortcomings include the conventionality of the narrative  a straightforward revenge drama, with a love interest tacked on, with several soap-opera moments and melodramatic twists. Leo is okay, but he doesn't really impress. Cameron Diaz causes all kinds of problems, she is dreadful playing a character that is redundant. It's a stupid and useless character that detracts from the overall film. Given all of this there is a diamond in the rough  Daniel Day-Lewis. Playing a complexly drawn character Day-Lewis is sublime in giving the cinema's best performance in the last 3 or 4 years. He is simply astounding in every scene he is in and he dominates the other actors with an uncommon charisma and an indescribable attraction. Scorsese's film is moderately entertaining but I expect more from one of cinema's great filmmakers. I think history will show that Scorsese's earlier examination of New York's foundation - the modern masterpiece "The Age of Innocence"; will dominate in all comparisons to "Gangs of New York".