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| Gangs of New York - Porcupine (15/02/2003 4:21:08 AM) |
The good people from Leading Solutions decided to treat their customers to a movie, and I, for one, would like to applaud such acts of generosity. I even managed to smuggle someone else in too.
Gangs of New York is set in the mid 1800s where apparently there was a lot of gang related violence. They've been trying to stamp that sort of thing out for ages, but it's been around since the dawn of man so the task is really cut out for the authorities. Here we actually see the authorities utilising the gangs as a political force.
Leonardo DiCaprio plays the lead thug who's dad was killed by some other thug (Daniel Day-Lewis) when Leo was little. Revenge! Not that I am into that. Cameron Diaz gets a role in this story too, but it really feels tacked on so the movie has a female lead.
We get to see how the people from the wrong side of the tracks lived in New York during the 1800s. Well at least how Martin Scorsese thinks they lived. Rascism, xenophobia, civil war, religious intolerance, class intolerance, sexism, thievery, thugery, murder, rape, political corruption, gang violence, civil unrest, all the dark side of humanity out in the open and clearly displayed. Of course, in one hundred years they will be looking on us in much the same way, won't they Mr Bush (*many* similarities in today's situation and this movie).
The violence starts almost right from the start and is pretty full on. Not Ninja Scroll type of "full on" (if you have not seen this then you must, just ask me), but as close as most movies like to get. There are also plenty of sex scenes, apparently that happened back then too. The sets are extraordinarily well done. The computer generated city scenes are just amazing. There is even a very gutsy depiction of New York developing across the ages that includes the world trade centre towers. Well done Martin!
There are some rather cool scenes on the docks. Including immigrants coming off a boat, lining up to be conscripted, lining up to get back on a boat to go fight, while coffins of previous conscripts are being taken off the boat .
Apart from telling you about the issues of the time, most of the movie is about giving the lead characters depth. The bad guy, Day-Lewis, isn't all bad, and DiCaprio faces internal moral dilemma about his revenge. Not entirely sure what hardened his resolve though. We are meant to see things from the point of view of DiCaprio, so every bad thing he does, needed doing, all in the cause of his quest. To kill a man. Who needs killin'. Day-Lewis probably had weapons of mass destruction, doesn't matter that we can't find them. It's like every bad thing anyone does, we all justify it and our view of our part in the story alters so slightly to have us as the good guy. Except for me, I'm always the good guy.
The story is mostly predictable, but entertaining enough to watch for 2hrs 46min. |
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well - i went and saw this as a last minute thing.. i had wantd to see it, friends were telling me it was pretty good!
so i went in there, not really knowing what to expect and i didn't breathe for the first 20 minutes!!! the opening scenes were really something else.. i was blown away by the imagery - it really struck something in me!
interesting story line - tho a little weak, stunts and action were really well done.. i was pleased for once wid Leonardo's performance, as wid Cameron Diaz... whoever played William Cutting was unbelievable - as the horrid, yet almost sentimental villain.. who got his just desserts in the end.
go and see it.... if ur not vegetarian!
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