A good flick to end/begin the year…
Well, kakita, direcow and his girl, myself and one other long-time friend of ours went to catch Gangs of New York last night at Lido.
Martin Scorsese once again proves his genius with this well thought-out show (apparently conceived in 1978 – long before me!) recounting the New York of the mid-1800s. I thought the beginning scene was a little clichéd, when you have the two “gangs” fighting in 1846 and after all the bloodshed and death, the camera pans out to show that it all happened in New York, USA.
Daniel Day-Lewis puts up a spectacular performance as always as William “Billy the Butcher” Cutter, a racist mob leader who prides himself as being American just because his father fought in the War of Independence. His character is evil, yet Day-Lewis manages to make his character so three-dimensional, it’s hard to condemn him, even at the end.
Cameron Diaz does a Heather Graham and shows an amazing amount of talent as a big-time pilfering woman. Hopefully this role propels her away from the “ditsy blonde bimbo” hole she’s dug herself into (Sweetest Thing, anyone?). In this role, she’s more Princess Fiona (of Shrek fame) rather than Mary (of Something About Mary fame), and it works. My only gripe (which I constantly ranted about during the movie) was the lack of chemistry between Cameron and Leo, but more on that later.
Perhaps in an attempt to inject some pop culture into this film, the lead protaganist role is given to Leonardo DiCaprio. Thanks to him, I was forced to lower my rating somewhat. Leo felt out of place throughout the film, and I personally felt he never quite got into character. In many places throughout the film, I saw more Jack Dawson than Amsterdam Vallon. Leo plays a boy orphaned by Bill Cutting (Day-Lewis), who grows up and finds himself at the right-hand of the very man who killed his father (played by Liam Neeson). His motivations are unclear at first, though the audience knows that he will have to avenge his father’s death sooner or later.
The movie’s strength lies in focusing on the antagonist rather than the protaganist, on capturing the talent of Daniel Day-Lewis and keeping Leo off-camera as far as possible. Casting also played a big role with Gary Lewis (Billy Elliot), Jim Broadbent (Zidler in Moulin Rouge), Brandon Gleeson (A.I.) and John C. Reilly (Perfect Storm) rounding up the cast. All in all, an enjoyable film with lots of drama and intensity, and a good way to end the year.
[rant]I don’t think I’m ever going to Lido again, though. Halfway through the flick (the Uncle Tom’s Cabin scene) the picture started to go fuzzy and stayed that way till the end! And if that wasn’t bad enough, at the film’s turning point (the scene with SO MUCH tension between DiCaprio and Lewis)… the projector was stopped and we missed almost the whole dialouge there! I would have expected someone to apologise at the end of the movie at least… but no one did! ARGH! [/rant]