Review of Gangs of New York (2002) by Dylan P — 04 May 2016

I had no idea about the riots that occurred in New York during the height of the American Civil War until I saw this violent and brilliant movie. A stellar cast headed by Daniel Day-Lewis and Leonardo DiCaprio show how violent gangs wielded power in a corrupt and effectively lawless period of the life of the growing city.

The scale of the film is impressive with hugely complex, sprawling sets giving a real flavour to the early days of the Big Apple. Martin Scorsese certainly knows how to craft a blockbuster that is both visually impressive and well plotted.

There are several twists in the plot that I just didn't see coming at all and despite being nearly 3 hours long, I was hooked from the start.