City on fire

Rating: 9/10 (2 January 2010)

Martin Scorcese's "Gangs of New York" takes us back to the 1860s in New York City to show gang rule, driven by greed and prejudice against immigrants, particularly the Irish. The film stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Jim Broadbent, John C. Reilly, Henry Thomas, and Liam Neeson.
Into the corrupt world of the Five Points comes the adult Amsterdam Vallon (DiCaprio), who as a child witnessed his father Priest Vallon (Neeson) murdered by Bill the Butcher (Day-Lewis) who detests the Irish. Amsterdam infiltrates Bill the Butcher's organization, with the idea of killing the Butcher when the time is right.
Everything about this film is impressive, and that's putting it mildly. The scope of it is so enormous, it makes "Gone with the Wind" look like a small independent film. Scorcese and his actors have captured the 1860s atmosphere - the locations, the filth, the conditions, the brutality, the costumes, the language - to complete perfection. This is all set amidst the background of Tamany Hall and thousands of immigrants in search of a better life coming off of ships, only to have things thrown at them, while the young men are conned into becoming soldiers.
The acting ranges from great to good. Daniel Day-Lewis is terrifying as The Butcher. Every scene in which he appears is tension-filled, because you as a viewer have no clue what he's going to do - stay calm or cut somebody to pieces. A madman. A brilliant performance. Leonardo DiCaprio as a young man who has to stifle his horrible anger is excellent. Cameron Diaz is effective but not as strong as she perhaps could have been as a pickpocket who falls for Amsterdam but has a history with the Butcher. One has to give her credit for continually stretching her talent in different projects. Here, she's in the presence of giants, so if she doesn't come off as well, it's to be expected.
Get ready for a lot of blood and gore. Not my kind of thing, but it's worth sitting through it for this amazing film.