Martin Scorsese walks the even meaner streets of Civil War-era Manhattan in this rough-and-tumble historical epic, the filmmaker’s first of what would end up being many collaborations with star Leonardo DiCaprio. “Gangs of New York” opens in 1846, where a group of American-born Protestant natives, led by the ruthless Bill ‘The Butcher’ Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis), clashes with the Dead Rabbits, a gang of Irish immigrants, over the territory of Lower Manhattan’s Five Points; the battle ends with Bill slaying the leader of the Rabbits, ‘Priest’ Vallon (Liam Neeson), leaving the dead man’s son Amsterdam an orphan and sent back to Ireland. Flash forward to 1862 and a now-grown Amsterdam (DiCaprio) returns to New York on a mission to avenge his father’s death and finds that Bill the Butcher has risen in power to become a powerful crime boss and corrupt political figure … and perhaps too passionate and charismatic a man to murder. The film’s climax, set against the backdrop of the New York draft riots, rivals any battle sequence seen in “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,” which was released to theaters the same month; meanwhile, Day-Lewis, reuniting with Scorsese after “The Age of Innocence” (1993), delivers another one of his trademark intense and completely immersive performances. Nominated for ten Academy Awards and the winner of none. – IFC Staff
Gangs of New York
