Review of Gangs of New York (1938) by Matthew K — 06 May 2018

If I hadn't known Scorsese made this, I probably would have never guessed it. It just doesn't feel like a film made by the man who gave us many classics such as 'Taxi Driver', 'Raging Bull' and 'Goodfellas'.

The story about these gangs during this period in history seems big and vast, but the script doesn't allow it to be. The film suffers from a two hour and 40 minute run time, that could have been edited down to about 2 hours tops.

There's violence of course, which is always seen in Scorsese's films, and a lot of the fighting scenes look fine, but other times, the choice of cinematography is a bit annoying. Many shots are tight close ups that just make you wanna step back and try and see what you're looking at.

.. All hell breaks loose in the last 15 minutes, but because the film is too long, by the time it arrives, I could really care less about the characters or what they've been striving for this entire time.

There is some nice production design that brings this historical world to life, and the costume design is also good, which can be seen especially on Daniel Day Lewis' character who wears colorful jackets and has a top hat that would make even Abraham Lincoln look twice.

.. Being nominated for 10 Oscars kind of blew my mind, but the fact that it didn't win anything calmed me down. Being nominated for best picture, director, actor, sound, film editing, art direction, cinematography, costume design, writing, and original song, I would say that the only worthy nominees are Daniel Day Lewis for best actor and Best Original Song by U2.

The best part of the movie(other than when Daniel Day Lewis was on screen) was in fact when U2's Oscar-winning song "The Hands That Built America" starts playing during the end credits.