Gangs of New York (Remastered)

Even great artists stumble on occasion. Arguably America's best living filmmaker, Martin Scorsese had grand ambitions for his historical epic 'Gangs of New York'. Long fascinated by organized (and disorganized) crime and its roots in American culture, the director claims to have been planning an adaptation of Herbert Asbury's 1928 non-fiction book on-and-off since stumbling across it in early 1970. The material, an account of gang violence and political corruption in Civil War-era New York City, certainly seems right up his alley. Afforded a mammoth budget approaching $100 million (his largest at the time) and free reign to recreate 19th Century New York on the famed Cinecittà studio lot in Rome, the project was finally green-lit for release in 2002. The resulting film tells a sprawling narrative on a sweeping scale, with stunning production values and an A-List cast. It's also something of a huge mess.

The story begins with the Battle of Five Points in 1846, where bands of rival gangs have aligned themselves into two camps warring for control of their miserable slum. The self-proclaimed "Native Americans" (chiefly White Anglo Saxon stock born in the country) led by Bill "The Butcher" Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis) face off against immigrants (primarily Irish) led by Priest Vallon (Liam Neeson). They wage a bloody conflict involving knives, bricks, bats, and other blunt instruments in the city streets. Bill wins, brutally. Jumping ahead 16 years, Vallon's son (Leonardo DiCaprio), having spent his formative years hardening his resolve in a House of Reform, returns to the area seeking vengeance for his father. Now going by the moniker Amsterdam (real subtle there, Marty), the young man allows himself to be taken under Bill's wing to learn about his operation and get close to the man. However, he soon finds his feelings conflicted by a growing admiration for father-figure Bill and a shared romantic interest in comely pickpocket Jenny (Cameron Diaz).

This all occurs against a backdrop of rampant corruption centered around William "Boss" Tweed (Jim Broadbent) and his Tammany Hall cronies. Tweed has his hands deep in organized crime's pockets and runs the police and fire brigades as nothing more than his own savage gangs on the city payroll. All the while, escalating racial tension in the city has been inflamed by implementation of the country's first military draft. This will all culminate in the Draft Riots of 1863, in which huge mobs overrun Manhattan destroying everything in their wake.

Daniel Day-Lewis is an absolute force of nature as Bill. It's another astounding performance in a career filled with them. He swallows up any scene he's in. Less impressive is DiCaprio, who tries too hard to shake off his pretty boy image by beefing up and affecting an unconvincing "Oirish" accent. Don't get me wrong, DiCaprio is usually a fine actor who has capably carried other movies; this just isn't his shining moment. Diaz is flat-out miscast and is frankly awful in her role.

The movie certainly has a lot going on. That's both an asset and a liability. The scale of the picture is suitably epic, with amazing production design and costumes. Scorsese does an excellent job capturing the atmosphere of general anarchy dominating the age. The various themed gangs with their odd names (the Dead Rabbits, the Bowery Boys, the Plug Uglies, the Shirt Tails, etc.) and coordinated outfits are both menacing and strangely fantastical at the same time. (In some ways, the picture is reminiscent of 'The Warriors' for its crazily surreal depiction of inner city crime.) The story deals with many important themes, and the director orchestrates several set-pieces of enormous scope and visionary artistry.

And yet, at the end of it all, the whole thing feels unfocused and disjointed. The script is too talky, with clunky voiceover narration attempting to patch over gaps in the story. At just shy of three hours in length, there's a lack of momentum, and far too much emphasis placed on the uninteresting romance between Amsterdam and Jenny. Scenes of little consequence are allowed to drag on without reason, while others that would seem important are skimmed over and cut short. On top of it all is one of the worst musical scores ever recorded for a motion picture. (Howard Shore must have stretched himself too thin between 'Lord of the Rings' installments.) Worse, the film is capped by an especially treacly and mood-breaking pop ballad by U2 as soon as the end credits come up.

'Gangs of New York' is a movie that reaches for great things, and has moments of genuine greatness within it, but on the whole never pulls together. It's a big disappointment from Martin Scorsese. Fortunately, the director would bounce back to form with his next pair of features, 'The Aviator' and 'The Departed'.

The Blu-ray: Vital Disc Stats

When Buena Vista Home Entertainment first released 'Gangs on New York' on Blu-ray in mid-2008, the results were frankly terrible. The studio recycled an old video master that looked pretty awful when it first appeared on DVD back in 2003. High-definition encoding just brought out all the flaws even more.

A French Blu-ray release from M6 video looked slightly less atrocious, but only slightly. That import wasn't particularly satisfying either.

After a year and a half of customer complaints, Buena Vista has finally decided to give the movie a proper remaster. The new disc can be distinguished from the original edition by the Miramax Award-Winning Collection banner on the front cover. Other than the video transfer, not much has changed here. The new Blu-ray has no additional bonus features beyond those that appeared on the last Blu-ray.

The disc has three forced trailers before the main menu.