Although Martin Scorsese had a tremendous start of the 90s with the unstoppable Goodfellas, his later output never quite achieved the same box-office results. Didn’t quite left a mark on the critics either.

It’s a shame, because I love Bringing out the dead with all my heart. It was a movie I saw all by myself in an empty theatre and was immediately haunted by it. I’ve read a few essays about it, specially one contrasting how Scorsese depicts loneliness in both Taxi Driver and Bringing out the dead. Without aiming to be a contrarian, I prefer Bringing out the dead. It feels more akin to what truly being alone means.

When Gangs of New York was announced, it was expected to be a massive hit and darling to the usual critics. Instead, production and budget overran, 9-11 delayed the movie, and the general consensus was that the film was missing something.

I saw it on a cold night in Nottingham with a couple of friends. None of us were massive fans of Scorsese, but liked the film just fine. Especially the music. I’ve rewatched it a few times, and there is some connective issue missing here and there, but overall it’s a good film. DiCaprio was getting his feet into “proper” acting, so he is a bit wobbly from time to time. Cameron Diaz was wildly criticised and I don’t think she’s bad, but it’s a thankless role. From time to time, it feels the whole romance angle was shoehorned at the last minute and I think that takes away from the movie’s two central plotlines.

One plotline is plain to see: avenging a father. The other plotline, which I think it’s the interesting part of the movie, is a commentary on how one man’s revenge obsession and another man’s gung ho patriotism are nothing in the face of racial and social warfare. The high expected fight between the two gangs is brutally repressed by the arrival of the army, fresh from Gettysburg’s carnage.

Cannonballs rip the gang battlefield apart and in the end, it wasn’t Vallon who kills Billy the Butcher, it was shrapnel. It had to, because there was no way an upstart could defeat a man so well versed in street fighting. Vallon never had a chance and it was a random explosion what finally gets Billy the Butcher. The knife coup de grais from Vallon feels unearned, more of a mercy killing than a revenge. Billy’s last words are as ominous as they come, brutally describing who he is. “Thank God I die a true American”.

Perhaps that’s what people felt was missing. They wanted a protagonist having revenge on a deliciously evil villain, portrayed by Daniel Day Lewis in full scene munching energy. Instead, it’s a commentary on the cruelty a government can inflict on its own people. It’s as timeless as a revenge story, but perhaps more relevant today.

That final shot with the cemetery and the timelapse? Brutal. Almost made me love U2 again.

Oh, yeah, the music. Sorry. Howard Shore delivers a heartfelt track, and his three Brooklyn Heights cues are beautiful. Perhaps part 1 and part 3 feel too “Lord of the Rings” to stand on their own, as gorgeous as they are. I feel part 2, with the fiddle and banjo combo, make a better description of the atmosphere of Gangs of New York. If you like Howard Shore arrangements, may I recommend Precedent from Philadelphia too?