The Scene
I couldn't believe how many movies were released this past weekend. The movie studios were just as bad as the record companies this year - releasing everything in one huge bunch. Inevitably some good movies are gonna get lost in the shuffle. When you have Antwone Fisher Lord of the Rings 25th Hour Gangs of New York and Drumline all out at once, which one do you choose?
Actually, I saw Drumline last week.. that and Star Trek Nemesis. I catch just about every movie there is worth seeing, just never get around to doing commentary on them.
The choice though.. obviously it was Gangs of New York. For one it's a Martin Scorcese film and he has been working on this movie for 2 years. Wanted to see what he was gonna come with. After all this is the man that gave us Casino and Goodfellas. Two of the best mafia flicks ever. How would he represent the criminal element in the 1800's? The movie is based on
What they say
"Not bad enough to dismiss but too dense and boring to praise, let’s just call Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York the year’s longest and most expensive cinematic disappointment. Massively overproduced and confusingly overpopulated with people and ideas that choke on their own cross-purposes."
- Rex Reed, New York Observer
"Martin Scorsese's "Gangs of New York" takes all the themes that have been coursing through the great director's body of work -- class, religion, man's brutal nature -- and sets them against a wonderfully rich historical backdrop on the meanest streets that New York has ever seen.
The movie is an epic summation of a master's career -- an endlessly fascinating, landmark movie that is as bold as anything the cinema has seen in years. Needless to say, it is the year's best film."
- Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Daily News
"Both flawed and delayed, Martin Scorcese’s “Gangs of New York” still emerges as his most vital work since “GoodFellas.”"
- Jeffrey Westhoff, Northwest Herald
"Ultimately, Cutting is an exaggerated character for a supposedly complex epic aiming for "Godfather" and "Once Upon a Time in America" resonance. But Day-Lewis keeps you awake whenever the story loses steam during the film's 2 hours and 48 minutes."
- Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
My Opinion
Based on the title I expected this movie to be about the birth of gangs in New York. Taking it from the Irish and Jewish immigrants coming off of ships and landing in the dilapidated ghettos of NYC. To the sense of pride and belonging that they got from running around and shaking down their just as poor neighbors. Ultimately, I expected to see the seeds of what would become the mafia.
That was nowhere to be found.
It's set in that time period, but when the movie begins the gangs have already been formed. What you see is the story of a boy [Leonardo DiCaprio] getting revenge for his father's death. Which is nothing new. Sounds like any other chinese flick. The only way this movie works is if you nail the time period - make people see and feel how it was to live in the 1800's, while also reminding you that this is New York.
Martin Scorsese smashed it on every level. From the clothing to cinematography to the liberal use of the word nigger.. Hah! Yeah, it was the classic meaning.. not the hip-hop deriviative. I thnk some people were uncomfortable with that, but it's within the context of the story.
Scorsese is quick to pull out a blood pack too. "Here your bleeding, in this scene." He keeps the violence in play, but there is only one time that it's cheezy.. a woman bites off a guys ear and holds it in her teeth, but it never seems like too much. Like the entire film, everything that happens and every shot has a purpose.
The dialogue between characters isn't there to get a laugh or fill up space it just adds and moves the story along.
Daniel Day-Lewis who plays a character named William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting.. makes the film worth seeing. His performance will no doubt have some rapper adopting his name or snatching one of his lines.
In one scene he gives a little speech to DiCaprio telling him that he has lived four 47 years and rules things because he keeps people afraid of him. They steal something from him, he chops off their hands. They try to come up against him, he throws them a severe beating making sure that everyone sees what happens if you wanna play around.
Yeah, if you can sit through this flick.. 3 hours long.. there are some things that will inspire the evil side of folks.
It's a testament to the job that this guy did with the character.. Leonardo DiCaprio's part, a character named Amsterdam, could have been given to anybody, he's basically plain vanilla. People that don't like the movie, can point to DiCaprio as being the reason. You really don't care what happens to him.
As I said, the story itself.. you've seen it before, but you haven't seen it done this way. It's not a gang flick like Warriors with crews bashing each other. It focuses on one man's struggle. Mastery is always in the subtle details. That's what Scorsese accomplished: a masterful display of filmmaking.
5 squirts on the butter meter
Your Opinion
(".$counter.") comment";}
if($counter >=2){echo "(".$counter.") comments";}
?>