Awaited with mouthwatering zeal, American Gangster is the true story of Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), a man who in early 1970s America was their biggest ever drug kingpin, infamous for smuggling heroin back in the coffins of dead soldiers during the Vietnam War. Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) is a misfit cop who first considers Lucas to be bigger than the Italian mafia and then vows to bring him down.
Directed by Ridley Scott, this film represents a turning point for the recently blighted filmmaker. Back to Gladiator top form or still middling around nicely thank you very much with A Good Year?
They say:
Comingsoon.net: "American Gangster is an entertaining, masterfully crafted crime flick even if it isn't altogether original or groundbreaking."
Time: "It lacks dark passion and grand scale irony — but it is an intelligent, well made and seductive movie."
Empire: "Undeniable enjoyable, yet it never gets to grips with the full potential of the story."
We say:
During his recent promotional trail, Ridley Scott has been heard liberally banding about the statement (we paraphrase), ‘This film is the best thing I have ever done’.
Unfortunately this is not the case. In fact American Gangster is a somewhat depressing example of a once bankable director past his prime.
Here tackling 70s New York, he paints a realistically bleak view of the then most dangerous place in America - a war zone of pimps and crooked cops, all suckling from the junkie teat while dragging their city into the worst recession of its life.
American Gangster’s trick is to spin this world on its head by presenting the master criminal, lethal entrepreneur Frank Lucas, as a shrewd, self respecting family man and his pursuer, Richie Roberts as a bloated, unassuming womaniser.
Yet even with this appealing premise the film fails to connect, mainly because it lacks any real narrative drive.
It might have helped to show the last scene of the story - a simple, subtle moment of reflection for Lucas, at the very start of the film. This would have provided the audience with a focused goal - ‘What happens? How does Frank get to that moment?’ - rather than the linear A to B rise to power story we actually get.
Scott shoves a myriad of busy scenes in your face with no sense of grace. He does not seem to care how confused you might get, or even if you are still interested.
Waking up for bursts of extreme violence is not enough. Apart from Lucas receiving a stern telling off from his elderly mother (Ruby Dee), all the best moments involve somebody being murdered or beaten up.
If it were not for some adept performances, American Gangster could almost be a particularly brutal made for TV movie.
Why is Denzel Washington such a powerhouse? Sincerity. Absolute sincerity. How he is not mentioned in the same breath as De Niro and Pacino is anyone’s guess.
Russell Crowe too is noteworthy in a much less visible role. Though his doggedly determined cop does not go far beyond characterisation (cheats on his wife, bad father, honest to a fault), Crowe’s relative timidity on the streets neatly compliments Washington’s confident swagger.
American Gangster wants to be the black Godfather, but comes across more as a competent crime thriller in the mould of Donnie Brasco or The Departed. It is just too slow and ordinary to be anything else.
CAST
Denzel Washington
Russell Crowe
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Josh Brolin
DIRECTOR
Ridley Scott
TIME
156 mins
POSTED...
Thu 22 Nov 2007 at 9:02am
