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Reviews - Gangs of New York |
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It's New York. It's 1846. American
Nationalists, led by Bill the Butcher (Daniel Day Lewis), one of the
most ruthless men in the history of Hollywood movies, are fighting Irish
immigrants, led by Priest Vallon (Liam Neeson). The American
Nationalists are trying to lay claim to a neighborhood in New York,
known as the Five Points. They do so with the utmost violence. They hate
the fact that hundreds of thousands of Irish are fleeing the barren
lands of Ireland and coming to America for a new beginning. The Irish
who live in the Five Points are terrorized by Bill the Butcher. He hates
the Irish. He hates the blacks. He hates Chinese people. He hates anyone
who looks at him sideways. He hates everyone and everything. Many people
have died at the hands of Bill the Butcher. There is one boy who
witnessed his father die at the hands of Bill. His name is Amsterdam
(Leonard DiCaprio). He has returned to the Five Points 16 years after
the death of his father to avenge his death. Everyone that lives in the
Five Points has rotten teeth except Cameron Diaz, who has remarkably
managed to keep a perfect set of pearlies even without the invention of
toothpaste. In a nutshell, this is Gangs of New York.
I have always had a soft spot for the Irish. Whether it be Irish people,
Irish beer, Irish movies, Irish hockey players, naked pictures of Irish
women, I like anything that is Irish. Some of my favorite movies of all
time have to do with the Irish. In the Name of the Father - one of my favorites.
Braveheart - although not entirely Irish, there was enough Irish blood
spilled in it to make it my favorite movie ever. Hell, I even thoroughly
enjoyed the perceived disaster know as The Devil's Own. So it was with
great anticipation that I walked into the theatre to see Gangs of New
York. They sure built this movie up. It was supposed to be released a
year ago. Supposed to be the best picture of the year. Supposed to be
DiCaprio's golden invitation to the Oscars in a few months. Supposed to
be a movie of epic proportions. Hell, it had made my top ten list of favorite
movies and I had yet to see it!
Well, I have finally seen the movie and let me assure you, Gangs of New
York is not even the best movie that I have seen this week. And if
Leonardo is going to win an Academy Award, it will not be for Gangs of
New York. Hell, he won't even be nominated for this movie. With that
being said, I have to admit that I did enjoy the movie. But really, it
has to do with one person and one person only - Daniel Day Lewis. His
performance in Gangs of New York might just be the best performance by
any actor or actress in any movie that has been made in the last 10
years. He was simply outstanding. His portrayal of Bill the Butcher will
send shivers through your spine. If there has ever been a villain that
is as sadistic, as ruthless, as repulsive as Bill the Butcher than
please let me know because if there has been, I have not seen him.
Daniel Day Lewis takes this movie and carries it on his scrawny back
from beginning to end and doesn't bat an eye. If there is any one
performance that is worth plopping down $15 or whatever it costs to see
a movie nowadays, this is it. Daniel Day Lewis will win an Academy Award
this year or I will eat my sweaty, stinky shorts.
But enough fawning over Mr. Lewis. Now for what went wrong with Gangs of
New York. From my point of view, there was just no emotion in this
movie. Okay, that might not be right, because there was certainly hate,
fear and anger towards Bill the Butcher. But there was just no sympathy.
No likeability of any of the characters, which we don't necessarily
need, but hell, Amsterdam was trying to avenge the death of his father
and we really should have cared about that mission. By the end of the
movie, you just don't care. I don't know if it was DiCaprio's fault, the
story's fault, the director's fault, or whoever, but there was very
little emotion attached to the DiCaprio character past the first 15
minutes of the movie. He walked around with a scowl on his face for the
entire movie, which considering he saw his father stabbed to death with
his very own eyes, it is almost understandable. But the guy just had no
conviction. He was not a hero, not a leader, just not someone that you
really cared about. He was not even a lover like he has been in the
past. I would not say there was no chemistry between him and Cameron
Diaz but their characters in the movie mixed about as good as oil and
water. Like almost everyone else in the movie, Amsterdam was a thief and
a murderer. He was an angry person with almost no emotional attachment
to anything or anyone. In my eyes, this lack of emotion is where Gangs
of New York fell short from being a great movie. A good movie? Yes.
Great? Sadly, no.
I will say one thing about the emotional part of the movie. There was a
point where there was intense emotion building up. Without getting too
much into it, Bill the Butcher kicks the living shit out of someone like
no one has ever had it kicked out of them before. It is very intense and
you are just waiting for the next step. Then the movie sort of stalls,
and suddenly there is a focus on what I felt was a sidebar story about
conscription. Suddenly, when there should have been a mammoth showdown
between Amsterdam and Bill the Butcher, there is cannonballs flying all
over the place, buildings blowing up and a bunch of stuff like that and
it just takes the wind out of any emotional sail we were about to
experience.
Besides the movie's shortcomings, I will still recommend Gangs of New
York. Obviously Bill the Butcher is worth the price of admission and
more. The cinematography in this movie is also outstanding. The scenery
is excellent. The costumes. The attention to detail, from every rotten
tooth to every last drop of blood that is spilled. This movie is gory, I
will warn you about that. But answer me one thing. I am not American,
but I assume that America was built by the hands of some great people.
Even the main song on the soundtrack of Gangs of New York is called The
Hands That Built America. It is performed by U2. The people in this
movie are not the people who's hands built America. There is not one
good person in this movie. The hands of the people in this movie are
tainted with murderous blood. I would like to not think of these people
as the people who built New York or the people who built America. The
people of America did not get to where they are today from the hands of
the barbarians portrayed in Gangs of New York. This is just the humble
opinion of one humble Irishman.
 
- 7/10
Brendan Cullin - Senior
Editor
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