Gangs of Lagos is the latest Nollywood movie that’s got everyone talking. The movie features stars like Adesua Etomi, Tobi Bakre, Chike, Debo Macaroni, amongst many others. After we wrote our review on the movie, we couldn’t help but notice the striking similarities between this movie and Gangs of New York.
Before we delve into why we’re here, meet the brilliant minds behind Gangs of New York.
Director: Martin Scorsese
Writers: Kenneth Lonergan, Steven Zaillian, and Jay Cocks.
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis Cameron Diaz, Liam Neeson, Brendan Gleeson, Jim Broadbent, John C. Reilly, and Henry Thomas.
The movie, Gangs of New York is a 2002 American historical film based on the book, “The Gangs of New York” by Herbert Asbury. Gangs of New York tells the story of Amsterdam Vallon, as played by Leonardo DiCaprio, who is a young Irish immigrant recently released from prison. He returns to the Five Points to seek revenge against his father’s killer, William Cutting, a highly powerful anti-immigrant gang leader. Amsterdam’s journey is one of survival, revenge and revolution, themes highly similar to Gangs of New York.
Here are my top 5 Similarities Between Gangs of New York and Gangs of Lagos
5. The glaring similarities in the titles of both movies. “Gangs of Lagos” – “Gangs of New York.”
4. Both tales are about two young men who seek their fathers’ revenge, as both fathers died during a tussle for power. Street power.
3. Both movies contain similar themes of political allusion where they address the political issues of their time.
2. They both explore the theme of childhood friendship and how it blossoms to become a support system. In Gangs of New York, Amsterdam’s friend, Jimmy, dies and so also does Obalola’s friend in Gangs of Lagos, Ify.
1. The fight scene at the beginning of Gangs of New York and the fight scene towards the end of Gangs of Lagos share striking similarities.
Both movies appear to have similar fight scenes, similar themes, similar titles, and even similar characters. This is not to say that there are no differences as there are a plethora of them. It’s to say that while we praise Nollywood for the great moves, and changes it’s making, we are also looking forward to an era of fresh, not recycled stories with new plots, and new characters.
We leave you with one of our favourite quotes from Gangs of New York: “The appearance of the law must be upheld, especially while it is being broken.”
To conclude, we’ll give Gangs of Lagos a 7/10 for cinematography and a 4/10 for plot. What are your thoughts? Do you agree with this rating, tell us you view in the comments.
This is so spot on! I had to search on google to see if anyone wrote about the similarities. You also forgot to add that William Poole was also a butcher as well as Kazeem in Gangs of Lagos.
I see Gangs of lagos as a tribute to Scorsese, makes me love the movie more! The most striking similarity though is the fight scenes!