Gangs of New York

Rating:
Summary: We Be Thuggin'
Review: With the dry scrape of a razor blade and the insistent pounding of tribal drums, Martin Scorsese's magnificent epic Gangs Of New York opens on a note of tightly coiled intensity, as rival warriors meet like tectonic plates, threatening to shake the city to its foundations. The quintessential New York director, Scorsese has been building toward this moment his entire career, uncovering the outlaw roots of a city forged in blood and systemic corruption, and lorded over by men who cling to honor codes that evaporate with the rule of law.

Nothing less than Scorsese's Birth Of A Nation, Gangs Of New York is a grand achievement in history and anthropology, supporting its ambition and scope with a sumptuous re-creation of the period and an immediacy that allows a forgotten past to barrel into the present. Set mostly in the 1860s, the film centers on Five Points in Lower Manhattan, a lawless underworld of violence and vice where immigrant gangs wrangle over unsettled territory; as one character describes it, Five Points is like "the fingers that clench into a fist". With shades of Sergio Leone, the film opens with a spectacular, snowy showdown between Catholic immigrants and "Nativists", as an Irish boy watches his father (Liam Neeson) die at the hands of the fearsome Daniel Day-Lewis, who gains a permanent hold over the area. The boy grows up to be Leonardo DiCaprio, a hardened reform-school hooligan who returns to Five Points with revenge on his mind, but instead gets drawn into Day-Lewis's ruthless band of thieves, thugs, gamblers, whores, and political operators. Working without the threat of reprisal from the authorities (who are locked into battles of their own) or from crooked statesmen like Jim Broadbent's Boss Tweed, they control a savage place where only "the appearance of the law must be upheld". But just as the arrival of boatloads of Irish immigrants tips the balance of power in the area, DiCaprio's simmering truce with Day-Lewis ends as he enters into a dangerous love triangle with pickpocket Cameron Diaz.

Though it features a gallery of memorable supporting performances, the film's main character is America itself, which Scorsese tackles with the peerless technique and exhilarating brio that sets him apart from other major directors. An impassioned synthesis of the themes that have run through Scorsese's career-honor, sin, retribution, jealousy, and social codes, Gangs Of New York turns the melting pot to full boil and witnesses the very moment when chaos is eclipsed by permanent order.

Rating:
Summary: Boom Boom Boom - dire acting - dire storyline -dire film
Review: THis film is a piece of infantile moronic trivia,
the first 15 minutes is fine, the rest is a piece of tacky overblown drivel tinged rubbish with absolutely no redeeming merits.
It folllows all the usual rules - happy irishmen in brotherhood
overcoming nasty nativist americans - surprisingly it is not exactly emphasized in the film that the Irish were bloodthirsty racists scrambling to take over the role of black americans in New york.
Leonardo di Caprio is an absolute joke in his paint by numbers role - he has his usual love interest - this time with Cameron Diaz who looks as if she still on the set of Something about Mary.
He evens gets to do some dancing to what seems like Irish Music just like in Titanic.
Daniel Day Lewis seems to have been watching too many dreadful
kids cartoons - he is the prototype evil pantomime character.
This film is of the same quality and stature as Policy Academy 5 or 6 - just this time the hyped up scorcese happens to have more money to waste.

Rating:
Summary: A spectacle in Film Making!!
Review: I dont understand why people can criticise this film. This film is a "Spectacle in film making" If you are a fan of Martin Scorsese's pictures this film will most definately appeal to you. As for Daniel Day- Lewis portrayal as " WILLIAM CUDDING AKA BILL-The butcher you cant get any better. He is a fine actor and and at his best in this motion picture. His outstanding performance keeps this movie on top.

This film will attract many viewers since it is:

THE BEST FILM IN YEARS!

Rating:
Summary: Four Stars For The Five Points
Review: A city bitterly divided against itself, where lines between class, race, and ethnicity are as clearly drawn as the streets on an 1862 map of the Five Points district of lower Manhattan. With detailed and meticulous strokes of his brush Martin Scorcese has painted such a scene to serve as a background for his epic masterwork, "Gangs of New York."

The movie opens in winter of 1846 with a street brawl between the Nativists led by Bill "the Butcher" Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis) and a horde immigrant warriors led by Priest Vallon (Liam Neeson). The two groups collide in the snow blanketed landscape of Paradise Square and turn it pink with blood, ending only when Vallon is killed by the hands of the Butcher as his son Amsterdam watches.

Sixteen years have passed when we next catch up with Amsterdam (Leonardo DiCaprio) who, having left the Hell Gate Reformatory, returns to the Five Points neighborhood to avenge his father's murder. He soon finds the Butcher has aligned himself with the corrupt Boss Tweed (Jim Broadbent) and his Tammany Hall politicians. In a plot twist that would have made Thomas Kydd proud, Amsterdam, with the aid of his childhood friend, Johnny Sirocco (Henry Thomas), conceals his identity and infiltrates the inner circle of the Butcher to become a trusted lieutenant.

Filling out the triumvirate of major characters is Jenny Everdeane (Cameron Diaz), a pickpocket and con artist whom Bill has taken under his wing and is admired by Johnny. When Jenny chooses Amsterdam over Johnny she sets the movie's final act into motion. Johnny betrays Amsterdam by revealing his true identity to the Butcher who, in a confrontation with Amsterdam, brands him a traitor, and throws him into the streets, where he begins to reassemble the coalition of immigrant groups built by his father seventeen years earlier.

The movie's final confrontation between the Butcher's Nativists and Vallon's immigrants plays out against the backdrop of the 1863 draft riots which pitted the immigrants and working classes against the upper class who with $300 could buy their way out of the draft and the blacks that the North was fighting to free.

The film's screenplay, written by Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian and Kenneth Lonergan is a masterpiece filled with dialogue which is nearly Shakespearean in its construction and made all the more richer by the acting talents of Daniel Day-Lewis, who as the Butcher, over powers Diaz (who in the movie's largest flaw, has nothing to do) and DiCaprio and nearly steals the show. The movie's art direction also deserves recognition, pulling the viewers into a dirty, dingy, dark and depressing world of the lower classes of 1860's New York. Scorcese has gracefully manipulated all of these elements into an impressive epic that explores a little known piece of our American heritage.

Rating:
Summary: Has Scorsese befallen the fate of Woody Allen?
Review: I eagerly awaited the arrival of Gangs of New York. I have seen every Scorsese movie since Taxi Driver, and have loved them all. I particularly like the variety of his work, from Kundun to Age of Innocence to Goodfellas. I thought him to be the Sondheim of the cinema.

I was very disappointed with Gangs. I did not care for the characters. The plot meandered. Only the last shot with the Brooklyn Bridge lived up to his past work.

Diaz and DiCaprio were out of their league. Only Daniel Day-Lewis delivered. He gave a remarkable performance as the Butcher, but that alone could not save the movie.

Has Scorsese befallen the fate of Woody Allen? Another once-admired director whose name alone brought me to the movie theatre.

Rating:
Summary: entertaing italian eastern gangster western
Review: gangs of new york was an entertaning movie from martin sorsesse.
with gangs of new york he has created a period spaghetti,eastern
ganster western basically once upon a time in the west(sergio leone)meets his own goodfellas.there is a strong sergio leone
italian western and american wesern influence to this movie.
the leone influence is the the plot from once upon a time in the west(1969)the hanging scene is a homage to ones in the good the bad and the ugly,the extreme closeups,the spaghetti western coat worn by bill the butcher in the begging,the ennio morriconesque
instumental version of the hands that built america with the spaghetti western end titles(ala the dollars movie or once upon a time in the west).daniael day lewis steals the movie in the end i recommend this movie.

Rating:
Summary: Well Worth the Wait and Your Time
Review: I have read that this film was delayed from 2 to 3 years depending upon the article I read. I suppose it is possible, but the idea that one of the primary reasons for the delay was the argument over the time the movie would run seems a bit extreme. The film is longer than most at two hours and forty four minutes. The time passes rapidly so I hope that the version that will eventually make it to DVD will have the film at the length the director intended.

Martin Scorsese is a brilliant director, and if there is a man or woman who has directed more high-quality films without receiving an Academy Award for their efforts, I can not think of who they may be. For many years Steven Spielberg appeared to be locked out, perhaps this year Mr. Scorsese will finally be properly rewarded. The Golden Globes have nominated the film in the categories of Best; Film Drama, Actor, Director, and Best Supporting Actress amongst other categories. This award is not any manner of guaranty of how The Academy of Arts and Sciences will choose, but they generally fail to be polar opposites as well.

I must note that I have seen some of, but not all the films that have either been nominated or are being talked about as the best in a variety of categories. Depending on whose list you may follow I have seen about half, and, "The Gangs Of New York", is a brilliant piece of cinema. It will be interesting to see which film gains the plaudits of the industry as the genres are so wildly different, from, "Chicago", to "About Schmidt", and "Gangs Of New York", to mention only some of the contenders.

This is the first time in nearly 5 years that Daniel Day Lewis has appeared on screen, and I would imagine he will be the actor to beat when award time arrives. His character is pure evil, and he is brilliant without qualification. His co-stars in Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz are also great in the film, but Daniel Day Lewis owns the screen just as he controls The Five Points in 19th Century New York City.

This is the NYC of Boss Tweed, Tammany Hall Politics, Horace Greeley, The Civil War, and President Abraham Lincoln. It is the NYC taking in a large Irish population, and a NYC of entrenched persons who view themselves as real Americans, even if there forbears came across the same oceans not that long ago. It would be impossible for any single film to bring this very violent piece of US History to the screen. However, this film is good enough that it will likely catalyze people to search out history books about this period of this nation's history, for it was as fascinating as it was formative and violent.

Mr. Scorsese places some amazing vistas on the screen with the help of some techno-wizards including harbor scenes full of period ships, and a very impressive view of Manhattan from above as it would have looked were planes available in the middle of the 19th Century.

Avoid an error I made and check a map of Manhattan as it exists today prior to going to the theater, for at the end of the film there is an effect that is very well done, and if I recall the layout of Manhattan correctly, Mr. Scorsese sends a very powerful and poignant message at the film's end. It serves as a fitting close for a film about a nation that was created by, and survived so much violence, to become what we are today, flawed, but rarely a place citizens choose to leave for residence elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing is an understatement
Review: Never in my many visits to the theater have I ever even had a desire to leave the movie. Maybe that is a credit to being very picky as to what movies I watch (generally only good ones), but this film, half way through, was just asking me to get up and leave. The acting was generally good especially Day-Lewis but DiCaprio's effort was a flop (even short of his pitiful Titanic exposition). The film had its moments (the prolouge with the fight in the snow, some moments with Day-Lewis and DiCaprio, cinematography was good) but for the most part it was a flop. The story and I think even the film itself had great potential of being an excellent film if Scorsese had not been at the helm. I don't know who could have pulled this off but he dropped the ball. If Kubrick was still alive I'd say he could, maybe Coppola but not Marty. He took this story with so much potential and turned it into a boring, pointless, nearly 3 hour exhibition of pure .... He even turned the brilliant talent of Lord of the Rings composer Howard Shore into a musical composition of incohesive and lackluster quality (fitting in with the rest of the film).
Ultimately I would advise not watching this movie at the theater. If you are really bored one night in February (it won't take this flop long to be out on DVD) rent it, but even then I'll have to tell you to just miss it. It is very forgettable, except for how bad it was.

Rating:
Summary: Ignore all these fools!!!!!
Review: This film is possibly the best film of the year, all people cussin this film is a Fool, Finally I have watched an american Hollywood Film without Puking because of the overwhelming stench of Cheese.

JJ Timmons, another reviewer, if you are reading this, there are no "good guys" because its a gangster film.
Also Daniel Day lewis was excellent, he killed dicaprio's father then in turn becomes a bit of a father figure to Leo, but leo still decides to try and kill him and fails. He is Spared out of Pity and to Remind everyone at the five points he is a traitor and to live in shame.Daniel day lewis says in the films he was spared by leo's father coz he couldn't look him in the eye, so he later cut it out because he was ashamed with himself.Leo (as dan d lewis did to his father) rises up and defeats him at the end.
There's your happy ending!

Over all very enjoyable film and if you are to watch the film to enjoy it rather than criticize every little irrelevant "background" prop or image/s then you will like it.
IT'S NOT A MOBSTER FILM BUT A GANGSTER FILM THERE IS A DIFFERENCE PEOPLE.

Rating:
Summary: Another Scorsese/Day-Lewis New York Masterwork
Review: In my opinion, there exists no higher caliber actor on this Earth than Daniel Day-Lewis. If there is ANY justice in this world, his scorching performance as Bill "the Butcher" Cutting in "Gangs of New York" will go down in cinema history as one of the finest performances of his generation. I could almost smell the film stock burning when he was onscreen. As far as I am concerned, his is already easily one of the best performances of the last ten, twenty, maybe even thirty years.

Daniel Day-Lewis inhabited the character of Bill the Butcher so thoroughly, so completely, no other performance in recent memory even comes close to the strength, the vitality and the dynamism of Day-Lewis's portrayal of Bill. In fact, I believe that his performance was so good, we film geeks have to think up new ways to praise his performance!

I do, however, need to question Scorsese decision to cast the jaw-droppingly awful non-actor Cameron Diaz in this otherwise excellent film. Her out-of-place, out-of-period Valley Girl presence in "Gangs of New York" completely baffles me.

In any case...

I believe that with Scorsese's use of the "eyes" motif -- Priest Vallon's to open the film, and Bill the Butcher's to close the film -- coupled with the "traveling forward through time" coda at the end, Scorsese was attempting to illustrate that Priest and Bill, although incredibly important to the development of New York at the time (for what is, today, considered all the wrong reasons), were still only flip sides of the same brutal yet, ultimately, forgotten coin.

Therefore, I also believe what Scorsese is trying to say with "Gangs of New York" is, simply, "New York, this is who you are. Don't ever forget where you came from."

On a related note, I believe that the marketing for "Gangs of New York" was incredibly wrong-headed. It was a huge mistake to trot out the tagline, "America was born in the streets," and it was another huge mistake to run the trailer with the shot of Day-Lewis bellowing out, "This is a night for Americans!" because I do not believe for one, single nanosecond that Scorsese intended for "Gangs of New York" to be about anything else but New York.