The Popkorn Junkie :: Gangs of New York

The tagline is "America was born in the streets", and that is a good summation of the plot of "Gangs of New York", the latest epic from visionary filmmaker Martin Scorsese, who has the unique ability to combine a truckload of blood and carnage with enough story to keep you thoroughly enticed. Here, Scorsese takes a forgotten chapter of American history, spices it up just a tad, and loads it with one of the best acting performances of the year, from Daniel Day-Lewis. The result is a pretty good flick, with a few flaws that prevent me from giving it a four pop review.

At the beginning of the film we see Priest Vallon (Liam Neeson) preparing for a battle. He prepares in a very religious way, and we believe he is a priest, up until the point when we see him bashing skulls. Then we start to feel it might just be a nickname. He is the leader of the Dead Rabbits and the foreign hordes, who are battling the Natives, led by William Cutting, aka Bill the Butcher (Daniel Day-Lewis). The opening battle scene is bloody and ferocious and Priest Vallon is killed, leaving Bill the Butcher to rule the Five Points. Priest's son, Amsterdam, is taken to an orphanage and locked away, having witnessed his father's brutal death. Sixteen years after the infamous battle, Amsterdam (Leonardo DiCaprio) returns to the Five Points, hell-bent on killing Bill the Butcher and exacting sweet revenge. However, along the way, he befriends Bill the Butcher and becomes like a son to the ruthless barbarian who kills like a savage and speaks like a philosopher. He also meets a pickpocket named Jenny (Cameron Diaz), who strikes his fancy. Eventually, Amsterdam comes to his senses and wages war on Bill the Butcher, who turns out to have a few tricks up his sleeve.

This movie switches gears in the middle. As soon as Bill the Butcher discovers who Amsterdam really is, we go head on into a more political and organized movie, as we see Boss Tweed (Jim Broadbent) trying to form an allegiance with the newly formed Dead Rabbits in order to secure political safety. We also see the out lash of violence in result of the draft being enacted and the hatred shown towards African-Americans and the Irish. This is a very grim look at our nation's past and shows how not all of the bigotry and racism was confined to the Southern states.

There are numerous supporting characters in this film that add some added flavor to the goings on. Jim Broadbent is marvelous as the famous Boss Tweed, John C. Reilly is barely recognizable or understandable as Happy Jack, a local constable, and Henry Thomas portrays Amsterdam's friend and fellow gang member, Johnny. Also, Brendan Gleeson delivers another great performance as the club carrying Monk. Along with memorable performances from Leonardo DiCaprio (though his accent surely needs some work) and Cameron Diaz, it is Daniel Day-Lewis who steals the show with his performance as the sadistic Bill the Butcher.

NOTE: In 1997, shortly after starring in "The Boxer", for which he was nominated for Best Actor, Daniel Day-Lewis retired from acting to work as a cobbler in England. When Scorsese phoned him personally and asked him if he wanted to star in "Gangs of New York", he more than jumped at the opportunity to work with the director again.

Day-Lewis gives the performance of the year in "Gangs of New York" and shows why he might be one of the best actors out there today. Now, having just proclaimed "About Schmidt" as the best film of the year, and raving about Nicholson's performance, I must go on to say that Day-Lewis gives a better performance and should take home the statue. We'll see if that changes again by next weekend.

A couple of the things I didn't like about the film was that it changed paces a little too quickly halfway through and began speeding up towards the end, as if it knew it was getting a little long and they were trying to cram everything in. I also disliked the editing of the final scenes leading up to the battles at the end -- the continuous flashing of locations and newspaper articles took away from the film, I thought. I did, however, like the last few shots of the film, with the camera looking past an old cemetery and over at the New York skyline. The skyline keeps changing, showing every change that New York has undergone. It was nice how Scorsese did not feel the need to remove the World Trade Center from the frame. I liked that. Very few directors have had the brass you-know-whats to do that, and I applaud his patriotism.

"Gangs of New York" is a flawed, but remarkable motion picture that left me feeling very warm, yet very disturbed about my country. Now that we know a little more about our violent past, it answers some of the questions brought forth in "Bowling for Columbine". Back then, they used hatchets and knives and clubs and bricks. Now, we use guns and bombs, and weapons of mass destruction. Though most of it seems animalistic and savage, they handled their disputes, mostly, in an orderly and respectful manner. If only we could maintain the same civility they displayed back then, maybe we would be in better shape than we are now. I enjoyed this film thoroughly and give it a strong recommendation. If you don't like violence in film, go for the simple pleasure of watching an unforgettable performance from Daniel Day-Lewis. He is worth the seven-fifty alone.

-- Billy Ray ( 3 1/2 pops out of 4 pops )

Talk about this film with other Popkorn Junkies

Other Junkie's opinions.....

Mike ( 2 1/2 out of 4 pops )

I was really looking forward to seeing this Scorcese film which he apparently had been working on for decades. Alas, the movie is basically a breathtaking-looking history lesson on film. I like this movie a lot but it was just not the powerful and moving film which I had hoped for and expected. However, the cinematography is just outright magnificent and the basic story plotline is interesting. Daniel Day-Lewis pretty much steals the movie with a most entertaining and original role, but I didn't find the part really that demanding. Decaprio was effective playing his role but it certainly wasn't one for the ages. And Cameron Diaz seemed out of place in this movie and not all that believable. But nonetheless, this is a Scorcese film and it has lots of great movie making shots. I'm sorta mixed on this one because I did like it for the most part, but at the same time, found it to be missing something.

James ( 3 1/2 out of 4 pops )

This could quite possibly be Martin Scorcesse's masterpiece, and even though that is very hard to realize given all the quality films he has created, it is rightfully so that Gangs of New York is his masterpiece as he has spent nearly 2 decades working on it. The movie isn't perfect, but rarely are movies ever. The beginning and beginning of the middle is a little slow, but it picks up right there and becomes a very good political picture. The acting in this is marvelous. Daniel Day-Lewis is perfect as "The Butcher" and Leo DiCaprio, takes away all of my urges to make fun of him for being in a film called "The Beach" with his performance. And to think, he's in another big motion picture next weekend! Jim Broadbent, John C. Reilly also shine...Cameron Diaz, whom I am not very fond of (except for the good looks, hehe) also outdoes herself. In other words, Gangs of New York is a great film that should be required viewing material in public high schools, joining "Bowling for Columbine", and "American History X", to name a few. Now what pisses me off is that the big fat cats with their cigars, up in Hollywood, thought it would be good idea to release this movie in the same weekend as LOTR", when no big movies opened last week, or the weekend after New Years (next weekend is Catch me if you can, so skip to the next weekend), wtf fat cats? With that said, this is a must see film.

Pappy ( 2 out of 4 pops )

I am guessing that if I had a good background in the history of New York City, I would have really enjoyed this film, and understood it a lot better. If you are familiar with Tammany Hall, the Draft Riots, Boss Tweed, and the fact that the New York City democrats were fiercely against the North’s position in the Civil War this is a film you will love. It is beautifully crafted in every way. Unfortunately I am not an historian, so besides trying to understand what the heck was going on, I spent most of the 3 hours trying to figure out: why a gang battle was lost simply because the leader of the gang was killed; why the gang did not try to protect the leader in the first place; if the weird lady with the pointy teeth who kept biting people was a vampire; how the butcher suddenly became a theatrical knife thrower; why the bad man with the handlebar mustache (Daniel Day Lewis) kept a shrine to a dead Irishman if he hated the Irish so much; what the ethnic background of the New York City “natives” really was; why did it seem that Daniel Day Lewis was wearing stilts half the time; why did the firemen keep setting fires and looting homes; why would a person born in Hollywood with German-Italian parents (Decaprio) play an Irishman while a native Englishman (Lewis), who became famous playing Irishmen (“My Left Foot”, “The Boxer”, “In the Name of the Father”) would play a native New Yorker; and what was the something about Cameron Diaz that got her a part in this film? Huh? Give me those answers.