Gangs of New York

A magnificent throwback to an almost vanished era of epic filmmaking by great filmmakers in thrall to their own passions, rather than to the studio bookkeepers.

Bears all the earmarks of a magnum opus for Martin Scorsese: Fascinating and fresh material about his beloved New York City, an epic reach, an equally epic gestation period, a dynamic criminal element, combustible socio-political-religious elements, outstanding actors and sophisticated allusions to cinema history that inform and enrich the experience.

Throbs with an ambition that sends it soaring, then brings it down.

Though never dull and often visually beautiful, this work of operatic sweep doesn't fulfill its own ambitions.

Gangs of New York is many things, but a masterpiece is not one of them. It is primarily, and somewhat surprisingly, a poky western, with a vengeful orphan.

The problem here lies not in the abundance of blood--we've seen that before--but in the film's pounding insistence, which prevails for all two hours and 40 minutes, that we also absorb a rather thin and unreliable history lesson.

Scorsese and his team have created a heavy-footed golem of a motion picture, hard to ignore as it throws its weight around but fatally lacking in anything resembling soul.

The painful birth of one of most emblematic towns of United States; a town forged by immigrants of assorted origins, and the constant wars between the multiple clans, moved by the jungle law. Outstanding cast makes it compelling all along the almost three hours.

Gangs of New York looks great and Daniel Day-Lewis in particular puts in an excellent performance, but it doesn’t quite all come together in a truly satisfying way.

A plodding mess at times which is a shame as this had so much potential. Day-Lewis is exceptional and the only memorable thing from this movie.

Daniel Day Lewis is awesome in Gangs of NY. He really does deliver a sublime performance and crafts a character out of Bill "The Butcher" Cutting. He's sarcastic and funny, brutal and sincere. Just brilliant dimension and pitch. Leo Dicaprio on the other hand bombs. He's too pretty with his choir boy voice trying to act tough. And act tough he tries the same angry, concentrated look on his face through the whole movie, spouting overly-dramatized narration at times. He's the character we're supposed to be rooting for? He's the good guy? Killl him, Bill! Kill him! I shouted in my brain the entire second half of the movie. And sorry Cameron Diaz. You did not make the leap to fill a serious dramatic role. How appropriate you end up with Leo. A couple of blonde Californians playing 1850's Irish immigrants. You're both too thin-skinned to be believable in my eyes. Scorsese must be in love with the access to high-profilers these days. It's the only explanation.

As a young kid Leonardo Dicaprio's sees his dad killed by Daniel Day-Lewis in a street squabble between immigrants of all feathers and the natives. Not the Indian natives mind you, but those white dudes born and raised in the US from fathers who stole the country from those other natives a few generations before. Get of my property (that use to be someone elses) is their slogan! So Dicaprio swears to do Day-Lewis in as a little kid. Just wait until I am older! The movie therefore fast forwards sixteen years into the future to come to a halt around the time of the civil war. We learn that Dicaprio's desire to kill Day-Lewis has not dampened. Has he learned all kinds of usual skills that help progress him and society towards a better goal? Nope of course not: he just knows how to kill people with a knife. The next two hours then might see interesting things about the historical background of the US in the late 19th century, say the civil war, or about the life of the immigrants, but nope.. it is all about a gang of criminals. The kind that plague society any time in any setting and is filled with thugs, hoodlums, scumbags, crooks, sadists and profiteers and anyone else preying on society. But perhaps that was the message?The US is made by criminals? A country full of sociopaths? The end of the movie seems to imply as much. It takes Dicaprio around two hours to do in Day-Lewis, which he could have done by gunning the guy down in the first fifteen minutes, but he needs to linger because of reasons of morality. But actually no noble goal is guiding him. It is just bloody revenge that he **** a life dude! There is some kind of romancing going on between him and Cameron Diaz, which is probably in there just to extend the movie even further for it feels like they just go through the motions. Diaz is a unlikable as the others, only she is female, so maybe that is her excuse. For my life I can't figure out why anyone would sit through this movie that has such unlikable lurid characters. It almost feels like Goodfellas but with even more abject characters. Perhaps the acting is great, but really, why would you watch two hours of bloody violence, an awkward romance and nothing else? It is just a boring movie about one guy wanting to do in another and taking two hours to do it.