Plot: What’s it about?
The epoch saga of the making of this movie almost rivals the sheer intensity of it. Though Martin Scorsese has had plans to make this film for quite some time, we’ve only heard of it for the last few years. It’s one of those movies, like Titanic, that had everyone guessing “?when will it be done?”. Done it is and it was then nominated for 10 Academy Award nominations, though it won absolutely none of them. Thanks to the juggernaut of Chicago Scorcese saw himself once again shut out of the Academy. And exactly how long did it take to make this movie? To put things in perspective, Jim Broadbent who plays the role of “Boss” Tweed in the movie, took time off a few years ago to make a movie called Iris for which he won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, last year! Though the passage of time doesn’t really seem to matter in a movie of this scope, we can’t help but wonder what it would have been like if released earlier (or later). And is it Leo who’s causing all of this fuss with movies, or does he just seem to be involved in these projects with obsessive directors? In any case, the result with this (and the aforementioned Titanic) have both resulted in some great movies. This is the latter…
No time is wasted getting to the action in this 167 minute marathon of a movie. Priest Vallon (Liam Neeson) and his gang of men “The Dead Rabbits” are seen as they prepare for battle against a rival gang led by William Cutter (aka “Bill the Butcher” played to sheer perfection by Daniel Day Lewis). Every sort of weapon is seen here, ranging from knives to clubs made of wood. The battle, no less, is a massacre ending up with Vallon’s death. Vallon’s son, Amsterdam (later played by Leonardo DiCaprio) witnesses the death of his father and in turn sets out for revenge against Bill. We then find the characters in the “present”, spanning some 16 years and Amsterdam has returned in his early 20’s, but still with his hopes bent on avenging his late father. Bill (the Butcher) befriends Amsterdam and teaches him the way things work. Though somewhat the equivalent of a “drug lord”, Bill has somewhat of a snob in him and like a peacock, needs to show his feathers with the elite of New York from time to time. This opens the door for Jenny Everdeane (Cameron Diaz in a miscast role), a local thief who even manages to mingle with the snobs of the town, only to pickpocket the rich. She is, naturally, the love interest for Amsterdam even if both of them are unaware of it.
As one might expect, the sheer length of this film makes it fun to watch, with strong performances by the leading trio of actors. Though the strong supporting cast of Jim Boradbent, John C. Reilly and Henry Thomas (yes, the one from E.T.) only add to the flavor of this film. This movie is not for everyone, especially those who don’t wish to see violence on screen. Imagine the worst scenes from Braveheart and double them; that’s what you’ll have here for over two hours. However, the emotional quotient of the film is something that keeps the viewer entertained during that time as well. The sheer moviegoing experience like this is something that we don’t get to see all that often. And, we have to wonder, now that this film is done, what will Mr. Scorcese do for an encore? One thing is certain, when and if that day finally comes that the “Academy” decides to honor him with an Oscar, what future work of art will they be doing it for? More likely, though, it will be for something he’s done in the past. In any case, the film certainly demands at least a viewing for anyone wanting to see one of last year’s greatest movies.
Video: How does it look?
Though I am unable to do a direct comparison with the previously-released blu-ray of “Gangs Of New York” (having never purchased the original edition), eagle-eyed videophiles can certainly avail themselves of the wonders of google and find several places to see a few A/B shots. What I can happily report here, however, is that this newly remastered blu-ray looks absolutely marvelous. As compared to the DVD edition, let’s just say you’d be hard-pressed to find a more stunning night-and-day difference of a single film. “The Nightmare Before Christmas” comes to mind. It’s really that huge of a quality leap. For all intents and purposes, this is a completely new – and also very different – visual experience. Whereas the DVD – and initial Blu-ray by most accounts I’ve read – featured a transfer plagued by virtually every lamentable video characteristic we’ve come to associate with bad transfers (rampant digital noise, macro-blocking, unnaturally-boosted contrast, blown-out white levels, a generous slathering of digital noise reduction, and a level of edge-enhancement that was beyond unacceptable), this new Blu-ray is nothing short of a revelation. It appears that the image has been slightly zoomed in on all sides over the previous versions. This appears to have been an error on the initial offering, not the new one. The DVD demonstrated some oddities around the peripherals of the frame, and that doesn’t happen here, leading me to believe that this new framing is correct. Indeed, the zooming is very slight and never feels claustrophobic like the re-framed “Truman Show” disc did, for example. The color timing appears to have received a massive overhaul since this film’s last appearance on home video, with the image now taking on a warmer, more yellowish tone than it did before. Again, in a side-by-side with the DVD, the new edition appears the far more natural of the two, with the earlier presentation now seeming too unnaturally blue in comparison. Black levels are excellent once again (the one good thing about the earlier releases), but best of all, virtually all of the other problems that plagued this film’s earlier video transfers have been all but eradicated. Gone is almost all of the digital noise (though I did spot some here and there in darker scenes, though in fairness, it could also have been a bit of unnatural-looking grain structure and not noise per se), compression issues have been fixed, contrast and white levels have been reigned in along with the new color palette, and edge enhancement, while still occasionally noticeable here and there, is kept to an absolute minimum this time around. Likewise, the noise reduction has been dialed down tremendously on the new Blu-ray. In fact, if there’s one thing that could possibly hold this image back from a perfect score, its that some might actually balk at the overly-grainy look the film now sports in some of the more dimly-lit scenes. “Gangs Of New York” isn’t exactly a bright film for the majority of its duration, so this shift in overall aesthetic may put some viewers off who prefer their 35mm film look closer to a Pixar feature than true celluloid. But this reviewer, for one, is ecstatic to finally have a true-to-the-source presentation of Scorsese’s contemporary classic worthy of all the accolades.
Audio: How does it sound?
This re-mastered edition mainly focuses on the video, but in place of the PCM track, we get a DTS HD Master Audio track. From what I can tell, the two sound pretty similar. As one might imagine, this movie has its share of action sequences, things blowing up and whatnot and of course, plenty of gunfire. I toggled back and forth between the uncompressed track and the still included Dolby Digital 5.1 track that’s also on the disc. There’s no comparison. It’s literally the difference between night and day. Dialogue, especially Daniel Day-Lewis’ flat New York accent, sounds superb. The disc, on a technical level, has improved over time.
Supplements: What are the extras?
All of the supplements are the same here as on the previous Blu-ray edition. And from what I can ascertain, the features on this Blu-ray disc are the same ones from the two disc standard DVD from five years ago. We start out with a commentary by director Martin scorcese. One of film’s greatest advocates, we really get a feel for exactly what he went through to get this movie made (it had been planned as his follow-up movie to Taxi Driver). His sheer knowledge and history of the subject matter are impressive and they’re conveyed through his insightful track here. A must for fans of the movie and fans of Scorcese as well, as he delivers a solid commentary here. Additionally, the majority of the supplements are present on the first disc. We begin with a Costume Design featurette (for which the film was nominated for an Academy Award) with Sandy Powell. Powell walks us through the process of coming up with costumes and she tells us that though not entirely historically accurate, how the costumes came to be. Obviously an immense amount of work and thought went into the design and it’s showed in all its glory in the film. Next up, we have a featurette on the Set Design with Dante Ferritti. As with the costumes, Ferritti has gone through some painstakingly large models in which he presented to Scorcese. The set, one of the largest of its kind, was built in five months and realistically re-creates the look and feel of what it must have been like in the mid 19th. Next up, and closely related to the aforementioned featurette, is “Exploring the Set” with Scorcese and Ferritti. They literally walk around and point out the various landmarks but we’re then prompted to press “Enter” on the remote and then given a 360 degree view of what it looks like around that particular landmark. If you’ve ever used iPix on the internet, this will seem familiar to you.
What might make the movie make a bit more sense is if you watch the “History of the Five Points” featurette. Leonardo DiCaprio and Scorcese (along with some other members of the cast) tell about what the five points were all about, the rival gangs and the general tone of the movie. Though no real secrets are divulged here, there is a follow-up featurette entitled “Five Points Study Guide” in which some text-based notes are included on screens for your reading pleasure. Study up, there’s a test! Rounding out the features on the first disc are a teaser trailer and the original theatrical trailer. This brings us to the second disc in which the rest of the movie is housed (along with the remaining commentary track) and a very interesting documentary by the Discovery Channel. Aptly entitled “Uncovering the Real Gangs of New York”, this is a look at the true stars of the movie, but it’s got some promotional material in it as well, with some shots from the movie and an interview with Martin Scorsese. A “Luc Sante Introduction and Five Points Vocabulary” are included as well, though interesting (the Five Points vocabulary is essentially a glossary of terms used in the movie accompanied by their definitions), these seem a bit out of place here.
