Review of Gangs of New York (2002) by Joshua P — 23 Jun 2013

Gangs of New York is a massive leap for director Martin Scorsese since the scale is significantly bigger than many of his other films, but with his skilled ability at handling the subject matter he ensures the film is strongly character-oriented as well as a dramatical epic. His treatment of the story follows a fine level of brutality without going to excess or deviating away from the meaning of the story, and so Gangs of New York proves to be a fine and entertaining historical drama of epic proportions.

The technicals behind Gangs of New York are magnificent, because the costume and makeup is utterly convincing and the actual sets and props are terrific since they enhance the utter realism of the cataclysmic events that occur in the story. The events are brutal, but they never deviate far from a strong sense of realism and that is what keeps Gangs of New York as a sophisticated tale.

The cinematography is also great and makes use of fine angles and perspectives to emphasise the atmosphere of the story, which effectively is as strong as intended.

And what's really great is the fact that the story is an interesting one, chronicling the uprise of Gangs in New York City and the rising power they have over the authoritarians since the strength and influence of them is put into perspective finely through a skilled storytelling and a fine screenplay.

But the acting is what makes the tale so compelling and great to watch.

Daniel Day-Lewis gives a routine excellent performance with his ability to capture utter villainous brutality put into play in an early example from before There Will Be Blood, and so the element is shocking to the audience that views him as the heroic man from My Left Foot and In The Name of The Father. Audiences who have witnessed There Will Be Blood will be less surprised, but the shocking raw talent put into play in Gangs of New York to portray Bill "The Butcher" Cutting is what makes him a horrific character that the viewer is nothing short of fearful of. Daniel Day-Lewis gives one of his finest performances in Gangs of New York and the audience no longer have any idea what to expect of him as an actor anymore since its a massive branch out for him as an actor.

Leonardo DiCaprio gives a charismatic and strong performance in his first collaboration with Martin Scorsese and captures the hot blooded passion of a vengeful young man suffering from internal conflict as he is forced to witness painstaking events that characterised him as a man and now haunt him. Leonardo DiCaprio uses his charming natural talent to play the part finely.

Cameron Diaz gave an incredible performance. Although primarily known for her roles in romantic comedies, Cameron Diaz does occasionally break out with a fine dramatic performance like in Being John Malkovich. Here, she portrays her character with rich emotion and an excellent accent so that the audience can connect with her as well as she does with Leonardo DiCaprio through fine chemistry. Gangs of New York features one or Cameron Diaz's finest.

Liam Neeson's role is brief, but his strong Irish makes him ideal for the role, as does his natural acting talent which he uses as strong as possible within his brief screen time.

Lastly, John C. Reilly captured his character finely during his brief time on screen, and his charm was sophisticated.

Gangs of New York does have issues though. Occasionally, in terms of dynamic structure, the film is jumpy and it leaps from point to point without giving the audience a chance to witness any form of transition and so the characters are left with a sense of ambiguity to them which weakens their credibility.

Also, the dynamics are largely scattered and so fully embracing them becomes a challenge due to the fact that dynamics are jumping every which way but loose, and for a film with a scale as large as Gangs of New York's, that proves challenging to keep up with at times.

Also, the story does drag on for a while and it seems like many of the wrong scenes were skipped over while others were emphasised with tedious length to the dissatisfaction of the viewer.

But underneath that is great film told with terrific production design and an astounding cast, and absolutely skilled direction.