Gangs of New York

2nd disc of special features has a lot of good stuff. As far as reviewing my purchase goes, its a dvd and it is all there in the box and everything and its the 2 disc edition with all the special features and stuff. If I am reviewing the film, I'd say Daniel Day Lewis is brilliant in it, Leonardo Davincicode's accent was a little inconsistent along with most of the american actors doing irish accents. Stephen Graham however managed a perfect scouse accent throughout. This is definitely one of my favourite films however it feels a little bit like the basic story could be a lot better or more interesting, perhaps told from a different characters point of view. It was fairly straightforward, cliché and hollywoody, but Scorsese has pumped enough money and expertise into it to make it a good film. I kinda wish he hadn't, then someone (probably Scorsese himself) could make a more successful spin off or remake from another character's point of view and use the skills and money to make that the huge epic that this should have been.

Very good 😊

This is great it follows the great struggle of the city of New York as it tries to forge it's identity as does the rest of America during this turbulent time period in the countries history. We start with the dead rabbits fighting the American Natives where the Irish gangs leader priest fallen is killed by Bill the butcher the leader of the natives and his son witnesses this and escapes to live in hells gate till his mid 20's where he arrives back to the city he left many a year ago, he plans to exact revenge on mr cutting the man who murdered his father many years earlier but instead becomes almost a son to him and he must then bide his time before making the kill, overall a love this as I did 12 years ago when I first saw it 10/10 for me as it's great to see a forgotten history shown.

Being the "Victor Meldrew" that I am, I always read the worst reviews first, and this film has a lot on this site, mainly by people who didn't like the violence. I'm not too keen on graphic violence either, but in this film it probably has a purpose. Martin Scorsese is a serious, non-exploitive, film maker, so I'm guessing he might have been commenting on the "romancing" of violence by some people. 1. There are parallels in this film to the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland betwen the Catholic "Irish", and the Protestant supporters of the union within the United Kingdom. The Irish rebels are often romanticised by foreigners of Irish extraction, who fund rebel groups. The brutality of the violence in this film demonstrates that there is no romance to fighting. 2. Similarily, gang violence in modern America is also romanticised, and glorified by gangsta rappers. It is made to sound attractive. As this film demonstrates, there is nothing attractive about gang violence. I found the film very well-made and good looking. It could have been a Ridley Scott film, and I mean that as a compliment. There were some good performances, especially Daniel Day-Lewis and Cara somebody, who played Hell Cat Maggie, who made Sarah Palin seem like a teddy bear. In addition, Cameron Diaz was far more attractive in this film than she is wiggling her bum in films like she normally does, and her acting was the best I've seen her do.

If you are a true fan of this film you should really be buying the US import version, it is region free and therefore compatible with all UK blu ray players. Unfortunately the UK version was a very early blu ray release, and though I have not seen it myself and so cannot attest to it, all the expert reviews tell a very poor tale as regards to the quality of the picture transfer. After the poor reception of the original release, the US got a new remastered re-release of the film, but unfortunately this version has still not been released in the uk so unless you get the import UK buyers are lumped with the original rubbish version. Try searching for Gangs of New York [2002] [US Import] on amazon. You will likely have to pay a little extra but boy is it worth it. The picture transfer on the remaster is truly astounding, beautiful colours and great detail, amazing blacks, and no ugly compression artifacts or digital anomalies whatsoever (unlike the UK version). I was constantly blown away by the transfer, even compared to other blu rays. The sound on both versions is the same and fantastic. I cannot recommend the import enough, trust me and pay the extra, it is more than worth it.

Some of the best character acting I've ever seen. Lewis is absolutely convincing and ruthless as an anti-immigrant gang leader in the mid 1800s, and yes there is an unnerving sincerity and kindness in his treatment of "Amsterdam" (Leo's character), who unbeknownst to him is actually the son of his greatest rival. This is an incredible story of early New York, when it resembled the wild west more than a cosmopolitan global city. What a cracking film, but very raw and violent.. def not one to share with under 12s or faint-hearted family members.

Quite simply the film is an amazing piece of work. It's Scorsese, what do you expect? If you're thinking of buying this then you've either already seen it or you've been told time and again how good it is. If not, I'll tell you this again, it's an amazing film, get it. Now, the DVD is also pretty good. The quality isn't shoddy unlike some DVD's and it comes with all the usual bits and bobs but also includes some great extras. For example, the interactive tour of the Five Points. Director Martin Scorsese and set designer (who's name I cannot recall, nor find) take you on an interactive tour of the set, commentating all the way with interesting chatter. It's a great product all round and should definately be picked up. Immediately.

A potentially great story spoilt by over egging the pudding. Too slick, too flashy, too theatrical, too hammed up by Daniel Day-Lewis and the other lead actors, too much indulgence it costume detail. The whole thing was so colourful and too brightly lit and all so clean! I get the impression the director really wanted to make a broadway musical! Give the grim subject matter of the story, there was absolutely no grit, no menace, no sleaze and no tension or terror. In fact when it comes to New York gang depiction, 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' had more white knuckle moments. Good DVD quality.