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Gangs of New York

Apparently, "Gangs of New York" wasn't something that just popped into Martin Scorsese's head one afternoon as an idea for a great motion picture. Says the director on the film's official website: "Ever since I was a child growing up in Lower Manhattan, I was drawn to stories of Old New York. They are the stories of the testing of America and what the young country stood for. They are the stories of our roots." It was this type of passion for the subject that led him to take out a two-page add in Variety, just after the release of "Taxi Driver," for the upcoming "Gangs;" now, twenty years and one failed release attempt later, we get the results of Scorsese's dream. ***

] Well, it may have been a dream for him, but it's more along the lines of a nightmare for me. "Gangs of New York" plods along at the pace of an elephant, quickly degenerating from a potentially fitting look at history into a sprawling, unspirited epic that has no heart behind its placcid, lukewarm story. Sure, the production design is marvelous, and the performances admirable, but without any noticeable connection to any of the characters or their causes, it fails to muster any sort of emotional response, save for fatigue. ***

The film spans the course of nearly twenty years, beginning in 1846 with the constant battling of the Irish-Americans and the Native New-Yorkers, and culminating with the 1863 Civil War Draft Riots, an uprising against the Union's attempts to draft citizens of the working class while leaving the uppercrust socialites be. The middle ground of the film is comprised of equal parts fiction and history, focusing on the building up to the riots as seen through the eyes of Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio), a young Irish-American who has returned to the squalor of the Five Points in hopes of exacting revenge on Bill the Butcher (Daniel Day Lewis), the man responsible for the murder of his father in 1846. ***

It certainly sounds like an interesting premise, and Lord knows, the film's theatrical trailer was enough to incite me to plunk down $7 for a ticket. Now I'm just left with anger at myself, coupled with thoughts of self-destructive acts, and dreams of suing Miramax Films for false advertising. *** For starters, the film is too long. Scorsese and his editor, Thelma Schoonmaker, supply the film with almost no sense of direction or purpose. There's a certain air of self-importance here, resulting from the feeling we get that the filmmakers were under the impression that nothing was too insignificant to be left out. Thus, we become party to a variety of sequences that are drawn out and listless in their narrative structure; in some cases, it would have been better to leave whole sections out, such as that which involves the character of Jenny Everdeane (Cameron Diaz), the lady pickpocket who later becomes Amsterdam's love interest and companion. ***

That's another problem the film suffers: it sacrifices too much of the history for lame fictional subplots. There are films that successfully fuse the two into one driving force ("Titanic" comes to mind), and then there are those that simply ignore what they set out to do. Screenwriters Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian, and Kenneth Lonergan, go out of their way to bastardize the historical events of the time period by introducing them through the eyes of second-rate, stupefyingly dull characters with whom there is no success of identifying. We have no reason to care for Amsterdam other than a bruised childhood; even as the film progresses, we're so beyond the point of caring that none of it registers the slightest reaction. The blame for the tepid love story between Amsterdam and Jenny cannot be laid upon DiCaprio or Diaz, though: they give it their all here, and even in the midst of the faulty material, their efforts are admirable. ***

The standout, however, is Daniel Day Lewis, who becomes such a brooding, menacing force of both evil intent and philosophical thinking that he deserves better than this. I was mesmerized by his performance, even when his character became increasingly, frustratingly disinteresting, falling prey to the film's degenerative pattern as it goes on, and on, and on, and on (and on)... ***

I think the thing that angers me the most about movies like "Gangs of New York" is the sheer wasted potential that stinks up the theater like rotten popcorn. The film is marvelous to look at, its sets evoking the grandeur and unsettling nature of 1800's New York City while supplying a dark, gritty appearance to the action that is commendable despite the lack of energy. But the film is desperately in need of an adrenaline shot: the story never captivates as it should, and doesn't even come close to grabbing our attention. The overall experience is too much akin to reading a college textbook that fails to generate interest in the subject. Scorsese fails to do justice to his own vision, sacrificing intelligent filmmaking and development for a more conventional Hollywood approach. He knows the notes and the words, but not the music, so to speak.

Even with the advancement of DVD technology, Miramax has divided "Gangs of New York" across two discs, but is it really any better with more bitrate space? Not quite. Close, but there are a handful of problems, especially when one considers the shape the source print is in. There are a number of scenes that exhibit signs of dirt and blemishes, not something normally found on a movie that's not even a year old. Other than that, the rest of the image is very nice, with terrific color saturation and a richness that is accentuated by the pitch-perfect contrast and shadow detail, along with solid blacks throughout. Edges are sharp despite the presence of some enhancement halos, and small object detail is marvelous. Good, but could be better. ***

The sound, however, is simply wonderful, with lots of deep, booming bass responses from the low end, and loads of surround activity all around. The entire soundfield gets a full-blown workout, with channel separation that works wonders in creating a sense of dimension, and a well-crafted balance between the high and low ends that makes for some very effective aggressive sequences. Dialogue sounds wonderful, while the .1 LFE is almost always engaged. Both the Dolby and DTS 5.1 tracks perform admirably, with the latter providing an even cleaner, smoother listening experience that is altogether one of the better DTS tracks to come along in some time.

On the first disc, we have a collection of four featurettes, beginning with "Dante Ferretti's Set Design," which explores the creation of the film's enormous sets and locations through interviews with several members of the cast and crew. This could basically be a lead-in piece to the much-longer, somewhat tiresome "Exploring the Sets of Gangs of New York," in which we have some footage of the filmmakers walking around the sets, which are simply wondrous to behold. Branching out from this featurette is a full 360-degree viewing option of the sets, which should have been left all to its own as a separate extra. Then we have "Sandy Powell's Costume Design" featurette, which dives into the creation of the extensive wardrobes for the principles and extras, and "The History of the Five Points," which examines the fact and fiction of the real thing. Closing out this disc is a "Five Points Study Guide" in text format, and "Five Points Vocabulary." ***

Then we move on to the second disc, which features the Discovery Channel special "Uncovering the Real Gangs of New York," released on television at the time of the film's theatrical run. Providing a more interesting look at history than anything the movie could possibly muster up, this one gives us a nice, if somewhat dry glimpse at the hardships and angst of the time. Then we have the film's teaser and trailer, and the U2 music video "The Hands That Built America," which didn't fit in the movie, and doesn't work here, either. Perhaps fans will appreciate the extras more than someone like me, who hated the film.