Gangs Of New York (2002) * *

Directed by:  Martin Scorsese

Starring:  Leonardo Dicaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Cameron Diaz, Brendan Gleeson, Jim Broadbent, Henry Thomas, Liam Neeson

Gangs Of New York could have been a simpler story.    It runs nearly three hours and tries so hard to cover various subplots and events that the original plot seems like an afterthought.     We lose general interest in the thrust of the story, which is a young man named Amsterdam Vallon (Dicaprio) seeking revenge for the death of his father in a gruesome street fight years earlier.      His target is Bill "The Butcher" Cutting (Day-Lewis), who runs the Five Points section of New York City and was the man who offed his dad with a knife.     Amsterdam's father was Priest Vallon (Neeson), who feuded with Bill The Butcher over control of the Five Points.      When you consider how dirty, dingy, crowded, and generally unpleasant the Five Points area is, Priest should have just relented and let The Butcher run the show. 

Scorsese's film attempts to echo his better crime films such as Goodfellas and Casino with Dicaprio providing voiceover narration explaining the players and what is happening onscreen.      Yet, it is hollow, mostly because there is little life or joy in Gangs Of New York.     Henry Hill loved being a gangster and Sam "Ace" Rothstein loved being a casino owner.     They could not wait to share their zeal with us.     Scorsese in turn enjoyed his colorful criminals.    I can not imagine what Scorsese enjoys about the people or places in Gangs Of New York.      There are top-notch production values and a certain level of competence that Scorsese just simply can't fall below because he is so talented, but there is an awful lot of dankness and darkness for him to plow through.  

Amsterdam's plot is to ingratiate himself to Bill The Butcher, join his gang, and kill him at the right opportunity.      Daniel Day-Lewis is the best thing about Gangs Of New York.    He breathes life and villainy into Bill with a gruff, no-nonsense performance that doesn't go over the top.     Bill The Butcher isn't a monster, just a very tough man who is fighting to keep hold of his power.      He takes a liking to the serious Amsterdam, not suspecting that he is the son of his old enemy.      Amsterdam, for all of his anger and hatred, finds getting close to Bill's power more seductive than anticipated.
He also falls in love with a pickpocket named Jenny (Diaz), who is streetwise, yet tenderly loves Amsterdam as much as she can under the circumstances.

The actors and characters here would be better serviced in a less cluttered script.     Also tackled in Gangs Of New York are Boss Tweed and the corrupt Tammany Hall, the 1863 draft riots (which take up the last half hour of the film), and the Civil War.     Too many characters are in play for us to care about any of them deeply.    The only one who elicits a passionate response is Bill The Butcher.     Amsterdam is supposed to be the hero, but so much else happens that he is lost.     When the inevitable final confrontation happens, there is little payoff for our nearly three hours of waiting.

Gangs Of New York is ambitious in scope, but it didn't need to be.    A streamlined storyline would've sufficed.