Review of Gangs of New York (2002) by Kate H — 15 Sep 2012

Old school historical epic it may not actually be but it certainly does feel like it. Getting up to change the DVD is certainly a novel experience nowadays! You can tell that a lot of time and effort went into this just by looking at the sets. It reminds me of the big sets and massive amounts of extras you see in the old classics or in musicals like "Oliver!" it looks utterly fantastic.

Story wise I was hoping it would hit a little bit harder. Man's father is killed and Man gets revenge sort of deal with the addition of some gangwar and the backdrop of the 'birth' of New York. It might have hit me a little bit harder if I was from New York, or even from the US. I'm not sure. I feel like this whole movie plotwise was reworked and done much better in "The Departed." DiCaprio was just sort of there for me, as was Diaz. The real star here was Day-Lewis, Gleeson, and the haunting presence of Neeson's 'Priest'' Vallon. It was a wonderfully done movie but not something I'd care to watch again.