An American Epic...

Rating: 10/10 (20 December 2002)

...Gangs of New York is indeed an American epic, telling not only a tale of revenge, but also a tale of a time capsule, A New York not many know about, with the Civil War always looming over. There will be many a filmgoer that will consider Mr. Scorsese's work in Gangs of New York as rubbish, and true everyone can have their opinion on the landscape of 1963, but one must remember that the director, like in all of his films, has crafted such to as real and extent as can be shown in a 100 million dollar picture such as this. As much as Scorsese took cues from avant garde and Italian filmmakers for much of his films, he also took cues from epics and Westerns, and to my view has crafted the best motion picture of the year, incorportating a saga of the city he came from and his themes from his previous pictures, most notably his references to Christianity (and for instance, his theme of destruction such as seen in Raging Bull, can be identified with many scenes, not least of which the climax).
The seeds for the revenge take place in 1846, when a battle is fought against the Irish and the "Native" Americans over the five points (parts of the slums of Manhattan), where in which William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis in one of his very best roles) slays Priest Vallon, whose son, Amsterdam Vallon (played as an adult by DiCaprio) is then taken to an orphanage until he is set out in 1863, which is when the plot unfolds. Along with the skills of Scorsese he has his actors all in great shape, Day-Lewis especially, Diaz somewhat redeeming herself after The Sweetest Thing from this year, and DiCaprio shows that every now and then he can act.
Some may also criticize the way the history is represented, that the facts were skewed to tell a Hollywood story and isn't really credible to the story of the draft riots and the gangs of downtown. I think that they may be missing the point, though I do defend the factuality- facts are always going to be skewed for a big budget picture just as this, the key is to look past that and see it as how they did in the sense of pure dramatization and if it doesn't come off as clownish or inane, and this is not the case for Gangs.

For those looking for something insightful, daring, maybe even exhilarating, or just want to be entertained by more action after Two Towers, this is a definite pick for the holiday season. Salud! A++