Now it's good and broke!
Dec. 30th, 2005 04:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thehefnerOne of these days, when I get the money and the influence and the sweet, sweet power (possibly with the Cosmic Cube), I want to remake Gangs of New York. Every time I watch it, I'm reminded of all the things that made me fall so utterly in love with it and especially with the character of Bill "The Butcher" Cutting. Which makes the film's many problems all the more frustrating.
What are some of these flaws? Off the top of my head- Cameron Diaz's underdeveloped character, the entire love subplot, the Draft Riots stuff totally swallowing up the main story, bad Irish accents spoken by a mostly American cast, overuse of flashbacks, and abandonment of the fascinating and moving father-son relationship between Bill and Amsterdam for the conventional and unimaginitive "You killed my father, prepare to die" storyline. Yawn. Also, Amsterdam is a boring and unlikable character, needlessly hot-headed, weaselly, back-stabbing, ignoble, and not nearly as honorable as the racist evil villain, Bill. And yet for a good number of reasons, I hold this movie very close to my heart. Every time, the strengths (for me) outweigh the flaws.
Still, with the passage of some time I think this is a movie ripe for revisiting. For one thing, Liam Neeson's Priest was a far more interesting "hero" and adversary for Bill than Leo's Amersterdam, so I'd make him the central protagonist. Amsterdam would still be a mole in Bill's group, but I'd allow a couple more scenes of him and Bill growing closer juxtaposed with the uncomfortable relationship he has with his own, raising the possibility that this evil racist might actually be a better, more loving father than Priest. In the original movie, we just caught a glimpse of him. If we were to believe Amsterdam and Bill, Priest was the most noble man in the Points, yet Monk hints that he might have been just as bad as the rest. I want that story! I want to see more of this badass Priest who might, at heart, be no better than the opressive "Native Americans" from whom he fights to defend his people.
I'd of course keep Monk (Brendan Gleeson) as the moral heart of the story, perhaps the most (or the only) noble man in the Five Points, yet still a badass with a club when he needs to be. I'm not sure what role then Jenny would play; I'd be loathe to try and fail with another love storyline. It'd be far more satisfying if she could actually stand as her own character, rather than the person for the hero to fall in love with, y'know?
Hmm. Maybe if I go through and used the names of the real people, I could "remake" it in the form of a novel and avoid being sued that way. After all, someone just put out a novel of Superman without having any ties to DC comics and yet isn't being sued... maybe I could get away with this less-precious commodity!
What are some of these flaws? Off the top of my head- Cameron Diaz's underdeveloped character, the entire love subplot, the Draft Riots stuff totally swallowing up the main story, bad Irish accents spoken by a mostly American cast, overuse of flashbacks, and abandonment of the fascinating and moving father-son relationship between Bill and Amsterdam for the conventional and unimaginitive "You killed my father, prepare to die" storyline. Yawn. Also, Amsterdam is a boring and unlikable character, needlessly hot-headed, weaselly, back-stabbing, ignoble, and not nearly as honorable as the racist evil villain, Bill. And yet for a good number of reasons, I hold this movie very close to my heart. Every time, the strengths (for me) outweigh the flaws.
Still, with the passage of some time I think this is a movie ripe for revisiting. For one thing, Liam Neeson's Priest was a far more interesting "hero" and adversary for Bill than Leo's Amersterdam, so I'd make him the central protagonist. Amsterdam would still be a mole in Bill's group, but I'd allow a couple more scenes of him and Bill growing closer juxtaposed with the uncomfortable relationship he has with his own, raising the possibility that this evil racist might actually be a better, more loving father than Priest. In the original movie, we just caught a glimpse of him. If we were to believe Amsterdam and Bill, Priest was the most noble man in the Points, yet Monk hints that he might have been just as bad as the rest. I want that story! I want to see more of this badass Priest who might, at heart, be no better than the opressive "Native Americans" from whom he fights to defend his people.
I'd of course keep Monk (Brendan Gleeson) as the moral heart of the story, perhaps the most (or the only) noble man in the Five Points, yet still a badass with a club when he needs to be. I'm not sure what role then Jenny would play; I'd be loathe to try and fail with another love storyline. It'd be far more satisfying if she could actually stand as her own character, rather than the person for the hero to fall in love with, y'know?
Hmm. Maybe if I go through and used the names of the real people, I could "remake" it in the form of a novel and avoid being sued that way. After all, someone just put out a novel of Superman without having any ties to DC comics and yet isn't being sued... maybe I could get away with this less-precious commodity!
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no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 03:51 am (UTC)1. the drafts riot swallowing up the story of the conflict between Amsterdam and Bill at the end-that's essential. In the large view, the movie is supposed to be about the formation of America, a smaller revenge story against the backdrop of a nation, and so the more personal conflict between only two men is shown as being rather inconsequential with what was going on around them, the issue of the nation being torn apart by war and the begining of the acknowledgment of inequality between different races. I was surprised when I first saw the movie, that it didn't end in an all out epic battle between Amsterdam and Bill, but instead in that intended battle being blown up in their faces (literally) and their blind, awkward grappling while the riots, national upheaval raged around them-and I think that's the point Scorcese might have been making-these two guys revenge vendtta, while needing to be settled, ultimately didn't quite matter as the whole nation was evolving.
2. Amsterdam being boring-he was, but he was like every hero in a Dicken's novel-the blank slate, slightly bland character, through whose eyes we see the whole colorful world that he inhabits, with all of the more eccentric, interesting people that surround him-Bill, Monk, Hellcat Maggie, etc.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 09:50 pm (UTC)Also, I'm all for interesting characters, especially in the lead. Amsterdam being boring may have been a precident set by Dickens, but this movie wasn't written by anyone close to a Dickens. And I don't want to have the majority of film and narration being dedicated to a boring kid I want to smack. I'd rather it have been from Bill's POV, honestly.