Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Cameron Diaz, Jim Broadbent, John C. Reilly, Henry Thomas, Brendan Gleeson, Liam Neeson
Director: Martin Scorsese
Producers: Martin Scorsese, Alberto Grimaldi, Harvey Weinstein
Screenplay: Jay Cocks and Steven Zallian and Kenneth Lonergan
Cinematography: Michael Ballhaus
Music: Howard Shore
U.S. Distributor: Miramax Films
Gangs of New York is a bold, epic spectacle brought to the screen using more of the old-fashioned Hollywood techniques (elaborate sets, large groups of extras) than the new ones (CGI). Visually, it is stunning, and the storyline encompasses a grand scope, using a fascinating and turbulent period of American history as the canvas upon which master cinematic painter Martin Scorsese crafts his images. Yet, despite all of this, Gangs of New York doesn't come close to masterpiece status. There are some great individual scenes and a tremendous performance by Daniel Day-Lewis, but the connecting material is mediocre, leading to the occasional twinge of dissatisfaction.
The off-screen story of Gangs of New York has been well documented. Scorsese initially toyed with the project some 25 years ago, but the unwillingness of a studio to finance such a grand endeavor forced him to postpone its start for more than two decades. Finally, after finishing 1999's Bringing out the Dead, Scorsese moved ahead with Gangs of New York, intending once again to collaborate with Robert De Niro. However, when De Niro learned that filming would require him to spend more than six months in Europe, he balked. Scorsese next turned to Day-Lewis, who agreed to emerge from self-imposed "exile" to participate in the project. Rumors (all denied by those involved) claimed that the shoot was beset by discord. Miramax, initially intending to release the movie to compete for the 2002 Oscars, shelved the picture at the last minute after deciding that re-shoots and edits were needed to get it into shape. Now, roughly twelve months after it was supposed to reach multiplexes, Gangs of New York is here. And one has to wonder whether a documentary about the production history might have been more interesting than the film itself.
Following a short prologue in 1846 New York, the time line jumps ahead to the 1860s, where, set against the background of the American Civil War, the bulk of the story unspools. Amersterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio) has returned to the Five Points in lower Manhattan to settle a score. When he was a boy, he saw his father murdered in a gang war by Bill the Butcher (Daniel Day-Lewis). Bill, the head of the powerful New York "Nativists" (who are anti-black and anti-immigrant), now rules the Five Points with an iron fist, and Amsterdam has returned to extract revenge. With the help Johnny Sirocco (Henry Thomas), the only one to recognize Amsterdam as the son of the dead Priest Vallon (Liam Neeson), the young man worms his way into Bill's inner circle. But his resolve to kill Bill wavers when the flamboyant butcher takes him under his wing and treats him like a son. Meanwhile, his friendship with Johnny frays when he becomes involved with Jenny Everdeane (Cameron Diaz), an ex-flame of Bill's with whom Johnny is infatuated.
There are times when Gangs of New York steals away the viewer's breath. The opening sequence, which details the great 1846 gang war between the New York-born Nativists and the immigrant Dead Rabbits, is stunning and visceral without being exceptionally gory. Later in the film, sequences depicting the military's attempts to put down anti-draft riots in Manhattan, which are intercut with another gang war, generate the same sense of awe. Gangs of New York ends with a poignant time lapse that resonates powerfully in the wake of September 11, 2001. The film's most moving scene is a quiet one, in which Bill opens his soul to Amsterdam, informing him that fear is the lone element that preserves the order of things and that Priest Vallon was "the only man I ever killed worth remembering."
Yet, for all that is good about Gangs of New York, it is nevertheless a flawed motion picture. The character of Jenny, while incorporated to add a dash of romance, is inadequately developed for someone who absorbs so much screen time. At best, she's a useful plot device; at worst, she's an unnecessary distraction. The overall narrative is in need of a better focus, with many of the sub-plots half-developed. And, irrespective of all of its visual splendor and thematic content about fathers and sons, Gangs of New York fails to provoke an emotional reaction. Despite nearly 2 3/4 hours of movie, I never felt more than a passing connection with the protagonist.
Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz are adequate – neither is tremendously good nor bad. Their accents are less constant than their performances, but there are times when they don't seem to have a good grasp on the individuals they are portraying. The chemistry between them is fitful. It starts out strong, but fizzles mightily after a rough-and-tumble scene that is charged with sexual tension. Both actors are overshadowed by some of the supporting players – Jim Broadbent as Tammany boss Tweed; Brendan Gleeson as "Monk," an immigrant mercenary with a strict code of honor; and Liam Neeson in an all-too-short stint as Amsterdam's father. Yet all of these performances pale in comparison to that of Daniel Day-Lewis. Returning to the screen after a five-year absence, Day-Lewis has never been better, developing Bill the Butcher into an incredibly conflicted, complex individual who radiates equal parts charm and evil, charisma and sadism. Along with Jack Nicholson's work in About Schmidt, Lewis' interpretation of Bill represents the class of male acting in 2002.
With Gangs of New York, Scorsese has both hit and missed. This is inarguably the most ambitious motion picture of his long career, the first time he has attempted a pure epic. There is much to appreciate about the spectacle, and about the meticulous manner in which the director has brought to life the turbulence of New York in the mid-1800s. We see here the birth pangs of the greatest American city in all of its ugliness. Yet, in presenting such a large tapestry, Scorsese occasionally seems to lose control of the flow. There are times when the movie meanders and the psychological depth of two of the three principal characters falls far below what we have come to expect from the director of the masterworks Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Goodfellas. Gangs of New York is an example of a production in which the whole is less than the sum of its elements. Despite some reservations, however, the movie never lost my interest, and I consider it to be worth a trip to a theater to see.
© 2002 James Berardinelli