|
Plot Summary
In 1846, in New York City, a
young boy watches as his father is killed in an organised gang-fight
between Irish immigrates and white Anglo-Saxon “natives”.
His father is known as the “Priest” Vallon (Liam Neeson) and is
the leader of an Irish gang known as the Dead Rabbits.
The gangs fight in New York’s Five Points; a desperately poor
district where fighting, thieving and murder are a way of life.
After
the death of his father the young boy is sent to a grim, puritanical
orphanage but returns to the Five Points 16 years later.
He finds the district much as he left it; overrun by gangs,
outlaws, crooked cops and corrupt politicians.
Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio) has only one thing on his mind
and that is to kill “Bill The Butcher” (Daniel Day-Lewis), the man who
killed his father…
Review
The prospect of having Leonardo
DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Liam Neeson and Cameron Diaz together in a
movie is encouraging to say the least but to have the brilliant Martin
Scorsese as director is almost too good to be true!
Surely this is a recipe for a five star movie!
The movie starts with a bloody
street battle in 1846 and then jumps 16 years forward to 1862.
It ends in 1863 at the time of the riots in New York, by the poor,
against unfair army draft laws.
Unfortunately the film is a bit
of a muddle. While the main
focus is on the feuding between the different gangs in the city and in
particular one man’s mission to avenge his father’s death it also
touches on the American Civil War, the unfair army draft, slavery, the
poverty of the immigrates, xenophobia and corrupt politics.
Perhaps the film is too ambitious and tries to cover to many issues
or topics and the main story line seems to be given more importance than
it deserves when compared to the grave issues than the film touches on.
With lofty ideals of courage and fighting-honour the film
concentrates on the gangs and the bloody killings.
The result is that the film does not give sufficient recognition or
sympathy to the human misery and poverty brought by the American Civil War
and the “foreign hordes” that arrived in New York.
This is particularly evident at the end of the movie when a hasty
narrative is carried out to introduce a historical element to the
proceedings.
On the plus side it must be
said than the scale and detail of the period sets and costumes is quite
impressive and the reconstruction of the streets and buildings of the time
is excellent.
There are strong performances
put in from the main cast and also very good support from the likes of
Henry Thomas, Jim Broadbent and John C Reilly.
The “love interest” comes from the relationship between
Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz that is quite convincing especially the
flirtations between the two.
Best performance however comes
from Daniel Day-Lewis who plays the vicious gang boss Bill The Butcher.
Did I detect a few Robert De Niro expressions on his face?
His dynamic performance ensures a huge screen presence but he
manages not to become a caricature of the movie villain.
The bottom line:
The film doesn’t get the balance between entertainment and
historical epic correct and is a little too long. If it wasn’t for
the “big names” involved, this film wouldn’t get half the acclaim it
is getting. However it is
saved somewhat by the fantastic sets and the performance of the cast
especially Daniel Day-Lewis.
Lasting thoughts:
“…Everyone owes and
everyone pays…”
“…
If you’re not strong you better be smart…”
Reviewed by Niall Quinn,
Premier Movie Reviews 2003 |