| THE GANGS OF NEW YORK Rating:  Director: Martin Scorsese Producers: Martin Scorsese, Harvey Weinstein Writer: Jay Cocks Director of Photography: Michael Ballhaus Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day Lewis, Cameron Diaz Visit the IMDB page for full cast and crew |
 Click the photo to buy merchandise from The Gangs of New York |
Review by: Curtis
Raines
12/27/02
When you think of classic Irish names, obviously one of the first that pops into mind is not, Sean, Patrick or even Maggie, but rather -- Leonardo. Seriously, who personifies Irish tradition like Leonardo DiCaprio? Every time I say that name I feel like diving into a bowl of Lucky Charms. With that said, is it any wonder why the most famous of all Irish actors, Leonardo DiCaprio, was chosen to be the lead role in Martin Scorsese's lastest epic about Irish New York gangs set in the mid 1860s? Apparently, Short Round from Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom and Gary Coleman must have been committed to other projects, because they're the only other two actors that I can think of that would have been a more perfect fit.
As you can tell, I have a problem with the newest Scorsese film, Gangs of New York. I'll admit, my expectations were sky high and my anticipation exceeded maximum, but trenched in the back of my mind, with a cast consisting of Henry Thomas (E.T.), Leonardo, and Cameron Diaz, doubt and fear grew humbly. And after sitting through this nearly three-hour saga, my suspicions were realized with great disappointment. I know the box office draw is important, very important, but why compromise a project with a great foundation like this one did? However, there was a lone bright spot in the casting process, for Daniel Day Lewis gives, hands down, the best performance of the year as William Cutting, aka "Bill the Butcher."
The movie is set during the time of Civil War in the Five Points of New York, an area known for its high density of gangs. After watching the brutal slaying of his father, the young Amsterdam (Leonardo DiCaprio) grows into a man only to come back to the Five Points and seek revenge on Bill the Butcher, the man responsible for his father's death. Amidst the plot for revenge, an unexpected bond builds between the Butcher and Amsterdam, almost like a father/son relationship. But revenge is Amsterdam's ultimate goal. Throw in a common love interest to spark jealousy and raise the tension, and you've got yourself an inevitable showdown.
But let me tell you what the major problem with this movie is. It reminds me of the Little League World Series -- let me explain. Every year when I watch the series on ESPN 2, there's always some mutant freakish alleged twelve-year-old kid that stands six-foot-two with a full grown beard completely embarrassing the competition. You know what "kid" I'm talking about -- the one that's like 200 pounds, shaves twice a day and fires the ball eighty miles per hour as these other normal twelve-year-olds, just happy to be there, can only watch in awe. Well, Daniel Day Lewis is the proverbial mutant twelve-year-old in this movie, while it seemed liked the rest of the cast, like the other little leaguers, were "just happy to be there." Now I'm not saying they were noticeably bad. I'm just pointing out that they surely didn't offer anything to the film in a positive way. After the first twenty minutes (which are by far the best twenty minutes of the film), I felt myself yearning for the scenes with Daniel Day Lewis and was bored and disinterested while watching the scenes without him. He was simply in a league of his own.
As in any Scorsese film, it's gonna have its moments. Like I said, the first twenty minutes were incredible and powerful, but I guess I expected that level of intensity to sustain itself. But for a two-hour and forty five-minute movie, it better have more than just one great character and a jaw-dropping opening scene. For after it was all said and done, Bill the Butcher was the only character that I remotely cared about. Too many cliché characters -- for instance: It had the prototypical "Evil Politician" willing to do anything for a vote. In one scene, my least favorite of the film, he's orders the execution of four innocent men just so the public will think he's punishing criminals. And, of course, he has not an ounce of remorse in doing it. How many times have we seen this character in a movie? Then there's the beautiful love interest (Cameron Diaz). Besides box office draw, I can't see any reason why someone with the resume of Charlie's Angels, The Mask and Any Given Sunday would even be allowed near the set of this film, let alone co-starring in it. Perhaps the most cliché character of all is the corrupt power bearing police officer, because according to movies, nearly every cop is corrupt. And yes, John C. Reily did his best to play this one.
Don't get me wrong, by all means the movie was not a total loss. I just expected a lot more coming from Scorsese. Again, I can't say enough just how good Daniel Day Lewis is, and the scenery and capturing of the era was superb. The Five Points looked every bit as awful as living in that time and place must have been. The violence was, maybe, a little excessive. All movie long, every dreg of the five points gutted people as casually as striking up conversation. Seeing death after death for two and a half hours numbed me to the final climactic showdown (an anti-climactic one at that). For if no one in the Five Points valued life in any way, why should we as an audience care? With the bad cast and the above issues, the positive points were simply outnumbered by all the negative ones. I think it had a great foundation, but it just failed to execute.
I'm not one to play armchair quarterback and tell one of the best director's ever how to make his movie. But one colossal tip that I do wish to offer: Leonardo DiCaprio is an Italian Hollywood pretty boy who is an average actor at best, the complete opposite of an Irish tough gang member. Yeah, I know, I know, he was in Titanic. He does big business at the box office, the girls love him, I get it. I can almost forgive you for that one, almost. But Cameron-fricking-Diaz? C'mon, Marty, shame on you. You should have known better.
(A Miramax Films release. Opened wide
on December 20, 2002.)
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