Gangs of New York - Review

Whenever I think of Gangs of New York, I think of this as Martin Scorsese wanting to create his magnum opus. But to my surprise, many people I talk to don't actually like this movie. When I ask them why they think so, none of them can give me a solid answer. They say things like, "Oh, I just didn't like it" or "It was good, but just wasn't great." So, unfortunately, I don't have a temperature gauge on the opinions of the masses in regards to Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York. However, I can tell you that this film is something else. I have never seen a movie that is so epic and terrifying all in one.

As soon as the film starts, I was hooked. It starts with that extremely chilling music with the drums banging and the Irish whistle playing as Irish warriors all walk together through the catacombs into battle. While nothing has even happened yet, I already feel this sense of doom lingering in this world that reminds me of hell. Right off the bat, I'm already saying to myself, "Wow, this world looks absolutely incredible." Then you realize that all this was based on a true time period of American history. And while the story itself is fictional, you are sucked into the movie, even more, knowing that some of this stuff actually happened.

So we are introduced to young Amsterdam walking into battle alongside his father and the rest of the Irish gangsters when we are introduced to Bill the Butcher played by Daniel Day-Lewis. Oh my goodness. Out of all the movies I have ever seen, he might be the scariest villain I know. Everything about him is terrifying. His look, his accent, his demeanor, his mix of honor and ruthlessness, he is one unsettling guy. One moment, he will declare that nobody shall touch a certain dead soldier, and another moment he will throw an ax and you and smash open your skull in front of the entire town because you attempted to humiliate him. Daniel Day-Lewis gives one of the best performances I have ever seen. If a movie has a villain that genuinely terrifies you and you personally want to destroy them, then you know that they are a great villain. And it adds more of an incentive to route for our main characters. Leonardo DiCaprio as Amsterdam and Cameron Diaz as Jenny Everdeane.

While both of these actors are charismatic and likable enough, I will have to admit that I don't actually know much about their characters and only route for them because I know the actors portraying them and because Daniel Day-Lewis is so overwhelmingly hatable as the villain, you route for the protagonists by default. Also, their accents seem to come and go throughout the movie which can be a little distracting. Now I have been told that the filmmakers did plenty of research in regards to the certain accents at the time of this story so who am I to say which accent is correct. I wasn't around in the 1860s in New York City and I'm not going to pretend I am an expert on the subject. All I can say is that the accents that Cameron Diaz and Leonardo DiCaprio go with can be a bit distracting.

But by far the best part of this film is the world that these characters interact with. The production design, the direction, the cinematography, the makeup, the costumes, everything is so fascinating to look at. They create a world that in my eyes is hard to believe actually existed on the same soil where modern-day New York City resides today. On top of that, the violence is something straight out of a Tarantino film. It's a world that I love to revisit on screen but would be absolutely terrified to actually visit, especially during the riot. Not giving anything away, but my jaw was on the floor.

While the story is a story seen in many other films, even other Scorsese films, the world and the performances alone are enough to say that I love this movie. It is a long one so make sure you got some time on your hands, but this movie is something on a whole other level.