Gangs of New York (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

Gangs of New York (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
by Martin Scorsese

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Movie Reviews of Gangs of New York (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

Movie Review: The Piece of NYC History that We WEREN'T Taught in School!
Summary: 5 Stars

Having been born and raised in the largest city in North America, and living most of the first 31 years of my life there, I can tell you from experience that the New York City of the mid-19th Century is only peripherally touched on in the NYC public school curriculum---at least it was when I was a kid! Sure, in Junior High School we were BRIEFLY taught about William "Boss" Tweed and the corruption of his political machine known as Tammany Hall, but it never received any serious study. After watching my DVD of GANGS OF NEW YORK, I believe that the lack of study on the subject was a serious mistake.

Martin Scorsese did more than just serious study---he brought this relatively unknown chapter of my city's history to life. You may say that he tells a rather traditional revenge story within the confines of a period piece. Even so, he still completely captures a time and a place with such startling clarity of detail that it is never anything less than intriguing---you actually feel like you've been transported back in time to 1846 at the beginning of this picture.

This is when Priest Vallon (Liam Neeson, in another powerful and gripping performance) leads his band of Irish immigrant men, known as the "Dead Rabbits," in street battle against the "Natives," led by Bill "The Butcher" Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis, to whose performance we will get into later), for control of the desperately poor but strategic Five Points area, situated on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. (On a modern-day map, you can locate it as the dividing line between Little Italy and Chinatown, with Little Italy to the north.) Bill mortally wounds Priest Vallon, and proceeds to order his men to make sure that Vallon's young son Amsterdam (Cian McCormack) is well-taken-care-of. Young Amsterdam escapes, and proceeds to spend his next 16 years vowing revenge on The Butcher. When we see him next, he is fully grown and, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, begins to slowly insinuate himself into Bill's gang while feigning "pureblood" status. But, as he begins to be taken under Bill's fatherly wing, does he become too ensnared in his new life and become a pawn of Cutting's growing dominance? Is his quest for revenge too full of hurdles? Does he really have what it takes to avenge his father's death? These are all the questions that Amsterdam finds himself asking by the midway point in the film---and that is where I will stop.

In his role as Amsterdam Vallon, Leonardo DiCaprio finds the right tone for his performance. No longer the innocent man-child of some of his previous films, Leo has matured noticeably. His character here is in the finest tradition of Greek tragedy. I like his subtle variance of speech patterns that convey to us what is untold to his listener. Let's face it, he will never be another Robert De Niro (his co-star, incidentally, in THIS BOY'S LIFE as well as a former Scorsese favorite) but then again, who else is? In my humble opinion, Leonardo has come a long way as an actor; still remember him for the last season of "Growing Pains?"

In his role as Bill "The Butcher" Cutting, Daniel Day-Lewis thankfully came out of a five-year, self-imposed retirement from acting to create the greatest role of his storied, and stormy, career. His reading of Bill isn't so much a reading as it is the embodiment of everything for which he stood. Modeled after the real-life "Butcher" William Poole, Day-Lewis creates not a human monster, but a dangerous man with extremely deep convictions, as misguided and misplaced as they were, and full of deadly charm. To create his performance, he put himself back in the place, the time, the man. In doing so, he created one of the most unique, and chilling, villains in recent dramatic history. Daniel Day-Lewis was robbed of what should have been his second career Oscar for Best Actor.

I feel that Martin Scorsese was also robbed, as well. It's bad enough that he has never won the Best Director Oscar, especially with an oeuvre that contains at least seven or eight certifiable classics---but to not win for this film was positively criminal. I know, thanks to the Harvey Weinstein backlash, Marty probably lost any chance he ever had to win the coveted award, but still I think the Academy should have looked past the backstage wrangling and honored Scorsese's work on its own merits.

Also worthy of merit here are the Art Direction (should have also won here), Cinematography and Supporting Actor performances by Brendon Gleeson, Henry Thomas and Jim Broadbent (as the "Boss" himself). Cameron Diaz, as the only female love interest, fares nicely and does well as a period pickpocket and possible instrument of revenge. Included on the stylish 2-disc DVD set is a wonderful, informative hour-long Discovery Channel documentary, "Uncovering The Real Gangs Of New York," plus a History of Five Points featurette and, of course, the director's commentary. There is also the nicely-done U2 video for their Oscar-nominated song "The Hands That Built America." You should build your DVD library with great movies such as this one.

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Summary of Gangs of New York (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)