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Gangs of New York (2002)
Runtime: 2 hrs 47 mins
Synopsis: Director Martin Scorsese revisits New York City's notorious past with this dazzling historical drama. A throwback to the epics of yesteryear, GANGS OF NEW YORK is set in the mid-1800s, when the streets of lower Manhattan were teeming with tension and violence. Leonardo DiCaprio is... Director Martin Scorsese revisits New York City's notorious past with this dazzling historical drama. A throwback to the epics of yesteryear, GANGS OF NEW YORK is set in the mid-1800s, when the streets of lower Manhattan were teeming with tension and violence. Leonardo DiCaprio is Amsterdam Vallon, the son of a revered gang leader (Liam Neeson). As a youth, Amsterdam witnessed the death of his father at the hands of William "The Butcher" Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis), the maniacally driven ruler of the city's most powerful gang. Sixteen years later, Amsterdam is finally released from the orphanage that raised him. Determined to avenge his father's death, Amsterdam makes his way back to the volatile Five Points to track down Cutting and exact revenge. As he gradually infiltrates Bill the Butcher's camp and earns the crazed gangster's respect, he must also contend with the tumultuous, but beautiful, Jenny Everdean (Cameron Diaz). DiCaprio and Diaz are impressive in their respective roles, but it is Day-Lewis who steals the show. Resurfacing after a five-year retirement, the Irish actor delivers a performance that is at once cartoonish, electrifying, comical, sincere, and deeply moving. By paying tribute to the early days of New York City in such a grand, spectacular manner, Scorsese also pays tribute to cinema itself. [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Cameron Diaz, Jim Broadbent, Brendan Gleeson
Screenwriter: Steven Zaillian, Jay Cocks, Kenneth Lonergan
Story: Jay Cocks
Producer: Alberto Grimaldi, Martin Scorsese, Harvey Weinstein
Composer: Howard Shore
DVD Info
Release:
Jan 7, 2008
Blu-ray Disc Features:
- Widescreen
Audio:
- Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround - English
Reviews
After all the expectation, it is surprising how absorbing "Gangs of New York" is as a playing movie, rather than an event or a mark in the evolution of Scorsese's career.
A work of staggering ambition, grandeur and terrible beauty. In a word: majestic.
The impact is all in the broad strokes of Scorsese's design: the corresponding coming-of-age stories of three confused and violent adolescents: Amsterdam Vallon, New York City, and America. [Blu-Ray]
Why did Scorsese spend three decades thirsting to make this movie? It's nowhere clear on the screen.
Day-Lewis's sneering, roaring, monstrous performance as the Butcher will remind you of the seemingly superhuman work Robert DeNiro performed in his prime.
Daniel Day-Lewis' magnetic portrayal of a 19th-century ganglord who butchered his enemies as readily as he carved up a freshly killed hog.
It will be a film that, in decades hence, will only grow in stature and importance.
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