Epic 5 Point Scale (Gangs of New York (DVD))

Member Name: SlyClone2k

Product:	Gangs of New York (DVD)
Date:	08/08/03 (228 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Day-Lewis excels , A huge immersive set, Nice extras cover the history

Disadvantages: Occasionally lacking in character depth

You might think that Scorcese has something of a passion for the city he grew up in; born in Queens, New York in November 1942, a great number of his movies have revolved around the city. From Taxi Driver to Goodfellas, from Raging Bull to the Age of Innocence Martin Scorcese injects realism and emotion in to every piece he directs. The Gangs of New York is no exception to that rule.

The Story

The film takes us back to a period of New York history rife with violence, corruption and anger; with such a backdrop the film should have plenty of material to utilise and it surely provides a motion picture spectacular. Going back to 1846 we are taken into an opening scene where one of the largely immigrant based gangs, namely the “Dead Rabbits” are due to face off against “The Nativists”, a gang that comprise a group of hardcore racists and anti-immigrants in a gang war to establish rights and turf. In the opening scenes the premise for the film is established when Father Vallon (Liam Neeson) is killed at the hands of Bill “The Butcher” Cutting (Daniel Day Lewis) as a young boy Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo Di Caprio) witnesses the event and is filled with a passion for revenge.

16 years later Amsterdam returns to the Five Points area after spending the rest of his childhood in Ireland. Having passed into adulthood he now passes through the area as just another immigrant; anonymous. His anger takes him to The Butcher, but despite his desire for revenge, upon meeting his adversary he begins to respect and admire his strength and manner. What will become of the plans for revenge?

Of course any Hollywood blockbuster wouldn’t be complete without a woman, and Jenny Everdeane (Cameron Diaz) plays this part. She provides the romance and the sub plot. Amsterdam becomes involved with Jenny, but the only person who can identify Amsterdam, a childhood friend, Johnny Sirocco, who was also at that fateful gang
fight, harbours a thing for Jenny. Anyone for some cold betrayal?

The Opinion

The film itself is powerfully majestic, and has a wonderful old Hollywood epic style about it; the film was largely shot near Rome in Italy, with the set almost faithfully recreating the Five Points area, incorporating several blocks and a harbour. Not only was the set incredible, but the inclusion of what must have been hundreds of extras provided an incredible spectacle that you just don’t get with the CGI of today.

For the most part I found the characters credible; of most note was “The Butcher” (Day-Lewis) his passion for the part and unwavering character portrayal were nothing short of stunning. I wasn’t particularly surprised to hear that De Niro was due to play the part, and couldn’t help thinking that perhaps Day-Lewis bought along a lot of what De Niro might have, possibly, given De Niros current passion for rubbish, more. But the comparison is there never-the-less. “The Butchers” character is beautifully portrayed, and despite his racism, sadism and hatred we are given moments of clarity where we see a complex individual who radiates charm and charisma.

Amsterdam is a reasonable character, his passion for his people and hatred of The Butcher are apparent. Perhaps you don’t like Leonardo Di Caprio I myself find it difficult to be excited by him, but his acting ability is rarely in question. His accent may occasionally falter into L.A, but you can’t help but think of the quote from the film, “There were so many accents in N.Y at that time.” And forgive him the transgression! His performance is comfortable and as he plays the protagonist there are a moments when you can’t help but feel some small connection.

Jenny Everdeane’s character as I earlier mentioned is more or less just part of the greater story. While by no means incidental her character isn’t u
tilised fully and her inclusion jars in that typical manner. Of course the character is ultimately essential but more care could have been taken with development. As far as Cameron’s performance it was, as ever, adequate.

The movie carries several other subplots and characters. Jim Broadbent (does he need any introduction?) plays a glorious part as Tammany Hall boss Tweed, his character forms part of the corruption that lay beneath the politics and policing of the area. From this vantage point we get the opportunity to see the police corruption and brutality and the distasteful style in which the political machine was run. Not only was the character brilliant but the portrayal is outstanding and fitting to the ambience of the movie.

Brendan Gleeson who plays the part of “The Monk” almost the opposite of Tweed. Early in the film he plays a mercenary that will gladly fight in the gangs for money, but it turns out his character is far more admirable and goes on to be one of the honourable few.

As you might expect there are some highly bloody scenes, but nothing that quite as shocking as the opening of “Saving Private Ryan”. For the most part the film portrays the opening fight and a later scene involving the draft riots and the actions against the crowd by the National Guard with a good degree of restraint, the scenes generate a spectacle that makes you gasp in astonishment but never becomes overtly gory.

For me the film was a nine out of tenner, it was almost perfect save for the occasional wavering off course by trying to be to involved in not only telling the story of the characters but also the story of the place. Perhaps the 2 hour 40 minute time tag is quite immense and I felt there were one or two scenes that could have used a little more editing, but I rarely felt myself any less than absorbed despite the neighbours playing music too loud and letting their dogs bark all evening. To draw comparis
ons to other Scorcese works would seem like folly as the movie surpasses, by a great margin, any previous scales.

DVD Extras

The DVD has a veritable plethora of extras, if the length of the film wasn’t enough the extras span a second disk to provide an extremely satisfying background to the film. I totted the time up to about an extra 90 minutes or so! As with many of these history pieces I found myself wanting to know more about the time and the area and there is a wealth of information here!

Shown in Aspect Ratio: 2.35 Anamorphic Wide Screen with Dolby 6.1 or Dolby EX 6.1

Disk 1 includes a director’s commentary from Scorcese, and the feature.

DISC 2 - Set Design; Takes us through Dante Ferrettis’ production, showing us the incredible pre production art work, technical drawings, models and vision that went into the set design. He tells us how long it took to build the set, shows the set building in action and how the actors felt when they were on set.

Exploring the Sets of Gangs of New York: Takes us on an interactive walkthrough of the set. Hosted by Scorcese and Ferretti we are shown the impressive set and are intermittently provided with opportunity to take a fish eye 360 degree look at various aspects of the impressive set. Ferretti discusses some of the finer points of the set design and sources for historical accuracy.

Costume Design: Even in the names of an entire review I couldn’t bring myself to watch this (as I’m not a costume kinda guy) but I’m sure it’s extremely interesting and comprehensive!

History of The Five Points, Five Points Study Guide: Possibly the most interesting extra was this text based look at the history of the Five Points. It includes a fascinating excerpt from Charles Dickens’s visit to the area and how he perceived it, “This is the place, the narrow wars diverging to the right and left, and reeking everywhere o
f dirt and filth!” It also includes a look at the language of the day, explains the meaning of Dead Rabbits and in the Five Points vocabulary section covers many of the terms that are prevalent throughout the movie.

Discovery Channel Special: "Uncovering The Real Gangs of New York": If you’ve watched many Discovery Channel items you’ll know what to expect here. Much of the information is duplicated from the Five Points guide but is probably easier to digest in televisual format. It tells us why the gangs where formed, the reasons the police only protect the rich. Why the area was only populated by the poor. Conflicts of religion and race. It uncovers some of the sources that went into the making of the movie including Herbert Asbury’s book of the same name and explains the “truth” in the stories that were published and the value of the legends of the day.

U2 Music Video: The Hands That Built America

Making of Gangs of New York: Though most of the actors had a little something to say about the making of the film we get most of the material for Scorsese and Di Caprio. They discuss the history of the people and the issues that faced them, the rivalries and racism. Many relevant clips from the film outline aspects of their commentary in a way that helps to immerse the viewer.

Theatrical Trailer.

On the whole a worthy buy, though I’m not sure I’d want to watch the film again any time soon I found the extras interesting and quite easy to get into. I felt that though they explained the time very well that a little extra could have gone into how the story behind the personalities was created. As a historian the film left me wanting to know more about the time, and the extras provided some fascinating insight.

Movie – 9/10
Extras - 8/10

£15.99 on Play - £24.99 rrp!

Summary: