Gangs of New York (2002)

So this is part two of what I am now calling "The Christy Experiment". I have now sat through five hours of Daniel Day Lewis. I think there's a merit badge or something involved.

I gotta say, I was not optimistic about this movie. Practically everyone I knew told me how much it sucked and I counted myself lucky that I had missed out on that one. Then my cousin picked it as part of her birthday present.

I hated it a lot less than The Last of the Mohicans. I would have said I liked it, but the ending completely squandered all the good-will it had been building over two hours. Seriously, if you rent it, only watch disc 1. Make up your own ending after that and you'll be better off.

There is a lot of violence in this movie, which I will privately refer to as The Departed prequel. The cinematography is gorgeous and, in all aspects of technicality, it is awesome. The cast of course is impeccable. It's Scorsese. The story is almost Shakespearian in that a man tries to revenge the death of his father but has a moral dilemma when he comes to respect the killer as an honorable man. He handles it horribly, of course. Women are much better at the long revenge plan than men, I think.

There is a lot of tension in the film stemming from immigration issues and the Civil War draft which involves some impressive riots. There is also the aftermath of the Emancipation Proclamation and there is gratuitous use of a particular racial slur. Parents beware.

But let's talk about the most interesting piece of this film:

Meet Bill "The Butcher" Cutting. Why do they call him The Butcher? Because he's a butcher. He also only has one eye. The story behind that is too awesome to spoil. Sadly, I think it's on disc 2 so you'll have to suffer for it. His fake eye has the shield of the union on it. Badass. He throws knives, yells constantly, and whores around. **KIND OF A SPOILER** He gets shot at a theater (not during "Our American Cousin", although that would have been hilarious) and immediately has a foursome with some surprisingly fit 1860's hos. **END SORT OF SPOILER** Except for the rampant, almost frothing xenophobia, he's quite likable. You know he has to die (not a spoiler, come on), I mean, he has to die. The world is not big enough for men like that. But you feel bad about it, like when King Kong eats pavement at the end of his movie. You can't just let him go around wrecking shit but it still sucks.

So it came |-| that close to getting the Liked It tag, but no cigar.