Strong cast, weak story.

Rating: 6/10 (7 July 2003)

For all its pedigree, "Gangs of New York" fails to deliver as a movie. Martin Scorcese delivers a sweeping epic of mid-nineteenth century New York, but the film lacks the kind of depth needed to hold the audience's attention for the nearly three hours of running time it takes to unfold.
Daniel Day Lewis plays William Cutting (Bill the Butcher), the leader of a gang of nativists opposed to the immigrants flooding into the city. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Amsterdam Vallon, the son of an Irish immigrant leader who is killed by Bill in the opening scene during a street battle. Cameron Diaz plays a pickpocket who was rescued off the streets by Bill as a child and who falls in love with Vallon.
Scorcese sets the stage and connects all the dots, but the movie just lacks heart.
As an action movie, where Vallon avenges his father's death, it doesn't work. One, it takes way too long for Vallon to get his revenge, and two, Daniel Day Lewis is by far the most interesting character in the film. You don't savor his death the way you would most bad guys in his position, because the hero, as played by DiCaprio, is really rather bland. Where Lewis is charismatic, DiCaprio just floats through the film and doesn't engender the kind of attachment his counterpart does. Diaz is introduced into the mix just to satisfy the obligatory love interest.
As a sweeping epic, the film is kind of interesting in that this period of American history is foreign to most of us. But it lacks the grandeur of a great film. The sets are pretty flimsy and the photography not that spectacular - not up to the standards he set in "Goodfellas." In some ways, it reminded me of those cheap Sixties gladiator movies shot over in Yugoslavia. There are some memorable scenes, but not enough to fill up 2 hours and 47 minutes. Scorcese could have easily edited this down to two hours and still made a decent movie.
Worth watching for Daniel Day Lewis' performance and for the fact that it's Scorcese, but all in all, it's really not a very good movie.