I just saw this movie last night and it didn't make one bit of sense. They make New York city off to be just one big street brawl, and if you step out your front door, you're bound to get slugged by some random person for no reason.
SPOILER!
It starts out with a big street fight between some Irish immigrants and some Natives English Americans who want them out. The fight is pretty cool, but really gruesome. Picture a street fight where everyone is armed with butcher knives and axes. Then we see little leo dicaprio watching his father die, after which he is sent to reform school for 16 years. Once he gets out, he wanders around the city looking for a gang to join and randomly sees all the people from his father's old gang, and 16 years later, still recognizes them. Amazingly though, he ends up joining the native gang that killed his father, and the boss loves him.
Then they show this gang setting fire to a building, and the fire brigade shows up to put it out. Then another fire briagde shows up, and the first briagde, instead of appreciating the help, decides to brawl with the other brigade and forget about the fire.
Many fights later...
Leo is exposed as being Irish, and his father's son. The Native gang is now against him. So some politician who I never did quite figure out who it was, comes to Leo and says he wants a new friend in the five points (where most of the movie takes place) because he had formerly been allied with the native gang. So then they have this Irish guy run for sherriff for some reason, and he is about to win the election, but then the native boss kills him. So then leo and a big group of irish people are standing at the docks with candles mourning him apparantly. They are met by the native gang who says he'll come back later. So now they plan a big brawl, and just when you think leo is creating a mob to fight the natives, he is actually forming an anti conscription mob, and this is when the movie gets really crazy. Him and his mob, and lots of other mobs, go through the streets and just set everything on fire they can see - they smash windows, hang people, whatever they can do to cause a ruckus. Then after the whole city is on fire, I guess Leo decides its time to confront the natives, so he takes his mob to the designated spot to meet them. Just then, the army shows up to put down the riots. While Leo and the Natives are about to showdown, a cannon ball from a gunship in the harbor happens to land right in the middle of the fight. Apparantly, Leo and the Native boss were blown into the same pile of rubble because the scene switches to them both lying almost dead next to eachother. They get up for one last crippled fight to the death, and of course, Leo wins.
The End.
I liked it though, I'd go see it again. It was just f*cking wierd.
So go see Gangs of New York. Now!
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