Legendary director Martin Scorsese combines two of his film subjects – New York and gangsters. However, he goes back to the 1800s to do so. What’s interesting is how some things have changed and some things are very relevant to things today.
In the 1840s, a gang war between the Natives, led by William “Bill the Butcher” Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis), and the Dead Rabbits, led by Priest Vallon (Liam Neeson), is ended in a battle royale in Paradise Square in the Five Points region of New York.
In the resulting melee Vallon is killed and his son, Amesterdam, is sent to the orphanage at Hellgate. Sixteen years pass and the adult Amsterdam (Leonardo DiCaprio) is released from the orphanage and returns to the area to seek his revenge against Cutting.
He meets up with Johnny (Henry Thomas), who helped him as a child when his father was killed, and falls in love with the pickpocket who now works for Cutting.
Soon Amsterdam is in Cutting’s inner circle (that also includes some of his father’s old gang members). He also has a romantic interest in Jenny (Cameron Diaz), a fellow pickpocket and con-woman, who he soon discovers may also be close to Cutting in another way and he has a hard time reconciling this in his pursuit of her.
All the while Amsterdam is plotting his revenge against Cutting but soon begins to get closer to him, in fact even saving his life, and begins to doubt whether he’ll be able to avenge his father.
However, Bill finds out about Amsterdam’s deception and the die is cast that the two will battle it out, but they’re all caught up in the Draft Riots that nearly destroyed New York in 1863.
If there are two things that I’d say Martin Scorsese knows are gangsters and New York City. It appears that no expense was spared in recreating the New York of the 1800s with gigantic sets being built in Rome. The project was obviously near and dear to the heart of the director (look for him as the head of the rich family that Jenny robs), as he wanted to go back in time and show the backs of the people that the “city that never sleeps” was built upon.
It’s a bit of a conundrum in that the film has great attention to period detail yet shoehorns some of its plot into real historical events (sometimes changing them a bit for the narrative – for example P.T. Barnum’s museum wasn’t destroyed in the riots but several years after).
Sometimes those historical events feel more interesting than the fictional character’s storylines. At the end I was wondering if a film about the Draft Riots themselves wouldn’t have been interesting since the final battle between Amsterdam and Bill seems minor compared to the massive chaos around them.
The film is epic and its characters interesting. The performances by Daniel Day-Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Cameron Diaz are top notch with some interesting character turns by Jim Broadbent (as the wily Boss Tweed), John C. Reilly, and Brendan Gleeson. Only Henry Thomas seemed to have some problems, as I never really took him for an Irishman with his dyed hair and occasionally slips of accent.
For the most part the general audience will not care for the historical niggles and concentrate on the story within. That story is interesting, but about when you think it’s coming to a close you look and there’s still forty-five minutes to go. It’s still a great movie and an interesting look at a possibly gentler, yet violent, time when gangs still had some rules of gentlemanly conduct instead of just being thugs.
What I found more interesting is comparing the events of the time, unpopular president and war, and comparing it to our times. Strangely Lincoln is reviled in the film but we know him as one of our most popular presidents when rolls and polls are taken. I’m not saying that our current commander in chief will be up there with him, but it’s intriguing to me how history plays things out. It’s obvious that Gangs of New York is a labor of love for Scorsese and it’s an easy film to get lost in the period detail – at times even more interesting than the story unfolding before us.
Gangs of New York is presented in a 1080p high definition transfer (2.35:1). I’ve read some complaints online about the quality of this transfer, but I’d have to say it looked pretty good to me and better than the original DVD release. It does seem overprocessed though and less film-like than other Blu-rays I’ve reviewed - but my untrained eye wasn’t as offended as others.
Special features are presented in standard definition. First up is an excellent commentary with director Martin Scorsese. The rest of the special features are in standard definition. The 13-minute “History of the Five Points” tells about the time period and place in which the film takes place. The 9-minute “Set Design” talks about the massive sets built in Rome.
The 22-minute “Exploring the sets of Gangs of New York” has Scorsese and production designer Dante Ferretti touring those grand sets. The 8-minute “Costume Design” goes into the massive amounts of costumes made for the film. The 35 minute “Discover Channel Special: Uncovering the Real Gangs of New York” talks about the real gangs populating New York in the era.
Next is the 4 minute music video “The Hands that Built America” by U2. Finally you get the 2-minute theatrical trailer and 2-minute teaser trailer.
Gangs of New York is a fantastic piece from a master director. It has some flaws but surely those are outweighed by the time and quality put into recreating this early New York era.
Gangs of New York is now available at Amazon . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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