Gangs of New York is something better than perfect: It's thrillingly alive.
91
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Everything is vast and hugely ambitious in Martin Scorsese's magisterial, scrambled historical epic.
88
USA TodayMike Clark
USA TodayMike Clark
If Martin Scorsese's staggeringly ambitious one-of-a-kind finally has too many flaws to be great, it has as much greatness in it as any movie this year.
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Rips up the postcards of American history and reassembles them into a violent, blood-soaked story of our bare-knuckled past.
75
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
The movie turns choppy in the final third, but it is a monumental achievement nonetheless.
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Lacks one thing -- an epic grandeur.
75
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
There is greatness in Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York: titanic acting, violent poetry, moviemaking on a grand scale, a real air of daring. And there is flab in it as well, and confusion.
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
Stunning, and it has the added bonus of being about an era that is virtually new to movies. As a dramatic achievement, however, it is not quite so amazing.
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
While the initial sequence is glorious, the last is a shambles.
50
Washington PostStephen Hunter
Washington PostStephen Hunter
Under its scope and reach and passion, Gangs of New York is pretty ordinary stuff.