Scorsese tries to squeeze a mountain of melodrama and history into his picture, too much to absorb at one sitting.
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Sometimes the Academy gets it right. Martin Scorsese's "Gangs of New York" is a good film but not an Oscar-winning one.
Not that great directors are always looking simply to make a profit, but in the dozen years previous to 2002's "Gangs of New York," the box office was not kind to Scorsese. Only "Cape Fear" (1991), "Age of Innocence" (1993), and "Casino" (1995) made any discernable money for the man who created such cinema classics as "Taxi Driver," "Raging Bull," and "Goodfellas." Not to worry. Even though the release of "Gangs" was held up a year, it not only earned a profit but received Academy Award nominations in ten categories: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Writing, Sound, Music, Editing, Costume Design, Art Direction, and Cinematography, winning none. It did win a slew of other awards, however, including two Golden Globes for Director and Best Original Song.
The movie might best be characterized as "Goodfellas in the Age of Innocence," centering as it does on hoodlumism in the nineteenth century. It uncovers a dark, ugly, and largely unexplored period of New York history, the gang wars and draft riots of the Civil War era. It's a rowdy and ambitious project that might have been more successful had it not been for a few snags. It tries vigorously to cover too much territory even for its lengthy 167 minutes, it's longer and more violent than it probably needs to be, and it co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio.
But it wasn't DiCaprio who was nominated for Best Actor. It was Daniel Day-Lewis in a standout performance as the nefarious Bill the Butcher, a portrayal so brutal, so over-the-top, yet so magnetic, he easily takes his place among the greatest screen villains of all time. For Day-Lewis alone, the movie is worth watching. The rest is mostly spectacle.
Scorsese tries to squeeze a mountain of melodrama and history into his picture, too much to absorb at one sitting. The trouble is, the film becomes tedious to watch a second time because beyond its pomp and show and the novelty of Day-Lewis's acting, there is little to engage us. Yes, we can try to figure out more about the plot and who the various supporting characters are, but it's not enough to provide satisfying repeat viewings, which I think rather limits the movie's appeal on DVD.
So, what's Scorsese up to? With so much going on, it's hard to tell, but here are a few things. The movie spans seventeen years and combines a revenge plot, a love story, a history lesson, and a host of morals all in one, with gang wars, racism, prejudice, bigotry, political corruption, the abolition of slavery, the Civil War, and the first American draft thrown in for good measure. Whew! Somewhere in there, poor DiCaprio gets lost.
Things begin in 1846, where the second-best character in the film gets killed early on. Liam Neeson plays "Priest" Vallon, an Irish-American leader of newly arrived Irish immigrants despised by the "natives," led by Bill "the Butcher" Cutting (Day-Lewis). The "natives" think of themselves as better than all newcomers to America because they were born and raised in the country, and their forefathers fought the British. They feel the "foreign hordes" are defiling the land. It never occurs to them that they were once newcomers themselves to the original Native Americans. "Civilization," says Cutting, "is crumbling." Yet he is the most uncivilized barbarian of them all. In any case, out-and-out warfare ensues between Vallon's and Cutting's gangs, with Cutting killing Vallon as Vallon's young son, Amsterdam, looks on. It's an opening sequence so savage and bloody it will make many viewers flinch and turn away. As a result, young Amsterdam vows revenge, not for Scorsese's tumultuous turn with a camera lens but for his father's death.
Fast-forward sixteen years. The place is the Five Points, a true melting pot of America, a slum ghetto of New York where many of the city's natives, immigrants, poor, needy, riffraff, lowlifes, cutthroats, and thieves mingle together. It's divided amongst various gangs with names like the Plug Uglies, the Slaughterhousers, the Broadway Twisters, the Bowery Boys, the Shirttails, the Night Walkers, the Forty Thieves, the O'Connell Guard, the Swamp Angels, the Daybreak Boys, the Dead Rabbits, and the Federation of American Natives. Reigning over it all is Bill Cutting, a man who has become so powerful that even the corrupt Tammany Hall politicians led by Boss Tweed (Jim Broadbent) want his help controlling the city. Returning to this area is Amsterdam (DiCaprio), now in his early twenties and looking for any opportunity to exact his vengeance on the Butcher.
And that's the setup. In his attempt to kill Cutting, Amsterdam first gets close to him, insinuating himself into Cutting's circle and gaining the man's confidence. But it's not easy. Cutting dominates through sheer power. He's the roughest guy around; he rules through fear.
To further complicate matters, Amsterdam begins to develop a serious, albeit rather far-fetched, father-son relationship with Cutting, extending so far as to Amsterdam's saving Cutting's life! "It's a funny thing," says Amsterdam, "being took under the wing of a dragon. It's warmer than you think." Added to that moral dilemma and everything else are Amsterdam's rocky romance with a local pickpocket, Jenny Everdeane (Cameron Diaz); the machinations of a local Irish constable, the bully Happy Jack (John C. Reilly); and a finale that shows us the people of New York going crazy in the streets, killing and looting as an upshot of draft protests, while Amsterdam and his group of followers take on Cutting and his crew. The outcome is one unruly concoction.
DiCaprio does what he can with the lead role, but unlike his suitability for "Titanic," where he had only to appear young and innocent, here he has to show pluck and resolve and toughness, too, and he isn't always convincing. Cutting says there's a "murderous rage rising up" in Amsterdam, but the audience doesn't see it in DiCaprio at all. Conversely, Day-Lewis is all over the place. He's a murderous thug one minute and a gentle, caring father-figure the next. It's an all-out bravura performance by an actor relishing the part and playing it for all its worth.
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