Gangs of New York (2002)

Gangs of New York

• Holy cow. This was good. I’ve been wanting to see it for quite some time, and now that I finally did, I’m extremely glad that’s what I chose to watch tonight. It’s definitely one of Scorsese’s best, and one of my new favorites of his. That dude is such a mastermind behind everything he does. The style of his movies, the grittiness, everything. I loved the story behind this one, which was set in 1860’s New York. It’s in the middle of the Civil War, so there’s political tension and corruption, which leads to several uprisings and gang wars. It shows a side of the country that you may not have learned or remembered about in school. Not for me, at least. You get to see a different set of characters than what is usually thought of during the Civil War. The focus on Irish immigrants and their heated rivalry with the Natives was really cool, though tragic at times. The cast does a great job portraying their characters, which brings out the authenticity of the time and setting. Daniel Day-Lewis was absolutely amazing, though he’s kind of hard to like. DiCaprio also does fantastic as always. It’s cool because almost every character in this contributes in some way, and they’re not just there to be there. The score was amazing, with a great combination of older music with a little bit of modern stuff. But my favorite part of the movie was the production and costume design. There were many times I legitimately felt like I was in 1860’s New York. It’s hard to believe this was made in 2002, for the reason I just said. It was absolutely beautiful. Overall, this movie was fantastic, and though there’s a long runtime, I stayed sucked in for the entire thing. I know I’ll watch it again, and I’d recommend it to all historical/crime fans. This film is officially Berry Approved, so go watch it now!