Gangs of New York (2002)
One does not simply get revenge on Billy the Butcher.
Presentation:
Martin Scorsese creates…wait for it…another gangster film! But it’s not like his other ones. This one feels different, more similar to Killers of the Flower Moon. It’s incredibly ambitious and perhaps might be one of the best looking costume films of the time. The era is depicted down to a tee with a beautiful filmic grade completely immersing us in the periods of abolition. The film starts out as a character focused film then transitions to political intrigue and then lots of typical bloody gangster action. One thing is for certain, Daniel Day Lewis is incredible as always, though everyone’s accent needs work. I think the only good Irish accent was John C. Reilly’s, but to be honest it’s one of the more difficult accents to understand so maybe it’s a good thing they toned it down so we could understand the plot. The problem is the film doesn’t really make us care about DiCaprio’s character nor the historical events. They sort of just assume we know and care about these two gangs’ beef. The pacing is also very lopsided toward the end with unfocused editing. It feels rushed and over-edited from the abrupt transitions despite still having a long run time. The rough edits for action sequences are comical, combined with early CGI makes it hard to watch in 2025.
Conclusion:
In this film things just happen then we move on without a reaction. This makes it feel more like a historical retelling, but then why focus so much on character development at the beginning only to turn into The History Channel toward the end? I still don’t care about Billy the Butcher, even despite a fantastically motivated Daniel Day Lewis. But hey, at least it looks good and admittedly different than the other gangster films. One thing is for certain, top hat gangsters are pretty dapper.
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