Gangs of New York is moviemaking at its best

Gangs of New York

Director: Martin Scorsese

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Cameron Diaz, Brendan Gleeson, Liam Neeson, John C. Reilly, Jim Broadbent

Cert: 18.

Director Scorsese, surely one of the greatest ever of Hollywood moviemakers, has finally steered his period epic to the screen.

And it was well worth waiting for. It was back in the l970s that he first fell upon the story of the violent street wars conducted between the established 'natives' of New York and the thousands of Irish pouring into the city. For a director never afraid to hold a light to the nastier and darker corners of American history and society, it was a perfect story.

Through a series of re-writes, budget problems, logistic delays - all suggesting, as they usually do, that the project was in deep trouble - Scorsese beavered away; and brings us a masterpiece of movie-making, a strong and gripping historic drama of violence, corruption, revenge and romance. It will clean up come Oscar time!

Gangs is not, though, without its flaws - the main characters might have been drawn with more depth and the screenplay is surprisingly ordinary at times - but it comes at us at full-tilt and with an honesty not too often seen before in films of an Irish theme.

Scorsese draws from his all-star cast some memorable performances, none more so than that of the mad and blood-thirsty Bill the Butcher, for which Day-Lewis ought to collect an Academy Award. It is a brooding, evil performance; dripping with sheer vitality.

The making of America, argues Scorsese in this stunningly brilliant film, was fashioned in the mean and squalid streets of its growing cities and it was made against a world of ignorant violence.

Star Rating: 4/5