Review of Gangs of New York (2002) by James W — 28 Mar 2016
Okay, yes it's crazy and brave and there's no doubt that it's an achievement but... um, it's not really that good to be honest, is it?
If one was to imagine a Daniel Day Lewis film in one's head, without having heard of this one, then they'd probably still end up with something similar to this. It's a strange film that has its own little place among Scorcese's other experiments but, beyond its perfect fit with Daniel Day Lewis, it's somewhat of a dud (one with a runtime of almost 3 hours at that!).
It's hard to say exactly what's wrong with the film other than to point out that, beyond its quirky inventiveness and ambition, there's nothing particularly right about it. Well, nothing stand-out right that is. It felt to me like a fairly generic film wrapped up in something completely bonkers with the generic, unfortunately, winning out in the end.
There's some real meat in there but, there's just a bit too much digging in order to reach it for me. It's worth a watch though, especially if you're a Daniel Day Lewis fan like myself.
This review of Gangs of New York (2002) was written by James W on 28 Mar 2016.
Gangs of New York has generally received very positive reviews.
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