Gangs of New York
12 July 2004, the wee hours
I watched Gangs of New York last night with Gary, Martha, Chris and Shima. I enjoyed the movie, though I did find it to be a bit on the long side. The characters, the setting and the story are so over the top the film feels quite surreal. I thought Daniel Day Lewis was excellent in the movie, though I suppose he rarely disappoints. The film is basically a revenge story, set in 19th centuary New York city, a place where crime is rampant. I would say the film is worth watching, you should check it out.
“Gangs” WAS long. Good story. Good directing. But, not the epic I think they were shooting for. I don’t think there was anything big that was wrong. Just a lot of little things for me, personally.
I think Cameron Diaz was miscast. But, I’m not really a huge fan of her as a dramatic actor.
Leo Dicaprio is great. But, he didn’t really hit his peak in “Gangs.”
Daniel Day-Lewis was perfect as Bill the Butcher (rumor has it that Scorsese actually turned to De Niro before Day-Lewis, but he turned it down). Anyway Day-Lewis had one of those “tough guy” vibes. I mean, he’s not a huge guy (tall, but lanky), but in “Gangs,” holy smokes, he looked like he was ready to carve up anyone who looked at him wrong. VERY scary. I love that guy!
And Brendon Gleeson is ALWAYS (really, ALWAYS) a treat onscreen. His Monk was just more of his good stuff. :-)
There were some parts that were downright spooky, but had a beautiful feel about it… the part where Day-Lewis is draped in the flag… whew.
by Tim on July 13 2004, 2:53 am #
Daniel Day-Lewis was aweseome in the movie. But, overall I felt it wasn’t a good movie. Not necessarily bad, but just not good.
by Ryan on July 13 2004, 1:59 pm #