The intriguing counterpoint to Scorsese's other masterful view of historic New York.

Rating: Null/10 (1 July 2003)

Martin Scorsese offers GANGS OF NEW YORK as an historic picture of New York as a brutal, primitive wasteland, and it's a perfect complement to the elaborate, highly civilized New York city wasteland he so vividly brought to life in AGE OF INNOCENCE. Scorsese brings his definitive style and deep, personal conviction to both films, elaborately exploring cultural and historic upheavels at intriguing moments in the history of a city which has had a profound place in the artist's body of work. GANGS is a magnificent production and a superior epic in the sense that it envisions and embodies a relatively unknown period of historic significance and establishes a barbarous and treacherous atmosphere that should stimulate and intrigue inquisitive and intelligent viewers right from the start. A fine achievement by one of America's best filmmakers.