5 reviews

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Anon. November 18, 2007

A stunning film. As it says on the tin, this is a classic American gangster flick on epic proportions. The loyal family, the crooked cops, the scum on the street are all there, but made much more compelling because the story's based on true events.

Comparisons to Michael Mann and Martin Scorsese have been made below. I believe this film easily approaches 'Heat' in its nuanced and drawn out exposition of the characters, while the retro vibe and slick editing give it a gut-wrenching pace akin to 'City of God.' Every frame is brutally engaging and it is a much more convincing piece than Scorsese's farce, 'The Departed.'

The two leads do a great job, Washington in particular showing a range I've not seen before. But the film is really held together by sparkling script and supporting cast. Even the smallest parts were perfectly cast and I was given to many wry chuckles at the social and politcal awareness written into the dialogue (look out especially for the eloquent Vietnamese drug baron, the posh and sleazy mob boss and Lucas's charmingly fussy mother).

The film is long but maintains its nervous tension throughout thanks to a clever script, great performances and very stylish production. See it for sure.

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Kevin Money November 16, 2007

American Gangster tells the true story of Frank Lucas, a 1970s New York crime boss and one of the most successful drug dealers of all time. His competitive advantage was that he flew in his heroin direct from its source in South East Asia, cutting out the middleman and guaranteeing 100% purity. He did this through a family connection in the U.S. Army, and the heroin was smuggled into the states in the coffins of soldiers killed in Vietnam. This film also suggests that he made a virtue out of a relatively sober character, tending to shun any publicity. A sort of underworld Paul Scholes.

He's played in this film by Denzel Washington, and I can't help thinking it's a shame that they've chosen such a charismatic actor to play a character who ultimately has the soul of an accountant. If you want to see Washington really get his teeth into the role of a bad guy, go and rent Training Day.

Pitted against Frank Lucas is another real-life character, detective Richie Robertson, played by Russel Crowe. He's a bit more interesting, portrayed as he is as just about the only straight cop in the New York police department. I don't feel the film gives a convincing reason why he swims so determinedly against the tide of corruption around him, but he's a nicely crumpled hero, and I found myself rooting for the good guy.

American Gangster made me think of David Fincher's Zodiac, one of my favourite American films of the last year. Both films are long, and deal with long periods of time in the seventies. But while Zodiac has an unusual, almost philosophical feel to it, American Gangster feels shallow, and a little dishonest.

We're used to moral ambivalence in gangster films, but I thought that American Gangster was more like morally lazy. In a scene towards the end of the film (when it does start to pick up in terms of tension and excitement), we're presented with the 'point' of the film – that Frank Lucas is interesting because he proved that a black man can make it in genuinely organised crime. But so what? It would be much more interesting to find out what drove a man of incredible ruthlessness, who, as Russel Crowe's character points out, is responsible for the deaths of many of the people who used his drugs. Another unattractive aspect of the film is its pretty relentless sexism.

Having said all that, I can't deny that I had quite a good time watching American Gangster, and any film that features the wonderful Jon Polito can't be all bad.

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Glenn Watson November 9, 2007

In American Gangster, Ridley Scott tries on Martin Scorsese’s shoes and Michael Mann’s shades. But they just don’t fit. Gangster street life, seventies-style, apes Scorsese’s Mean Streets and Taxi Driver while the mano e mano cop-and-baddie posturing aims for Mann’s Heat. Even a typically towering performance from Denzel Washington can’t give this the stature it boasts.

A shock-tactic ultra-violent opening - reminiscent of Goodfellas – immediately lets us know that Washington’s a bad-ass. Russell Crowe’s fumbling, washed-up cop-with domestic-issues is too like Pacino’s policeman in Heat. And by the time we reach the underwhelming “is-that-it?” ending, we realize we’re not gonna get a Pacino-De Niro-style showdown.

Up and coming gangster Frank Lucas (Washington) gets the top job when the ageing mob-boss dies. Acts of sudden violence seal his reputation while his suave demeanour nets him a beautiful wife and a thriving drug-baron business. But Russell Crowe’s incorruptible cop gambles everything on bringing him down. No mean feat when that means bringing down corrupt cops too.

Scott’s based-on-a-true-story 150 minute epic aims to be just that – epic. But it’s a slight, surprisingly shallow story that misses the beats of Heat and Scorcese’s gangster epics (Gangs of New York, Goodfellas, Casino). American Gangster lacks the drama and drive which mark the macho movies of either Mann or Scorsese and which plumb the depths of hero-and-villain psychology.

Maybe Ridley Scott – for all his success with Gladiator and Blade Runner - is more comfortable with female heroes, as in Alien and Thelma and Louise. Here too his trademark superior visuals are deliberately toned down, the film’s only shoot-out shaking the camera as if Ridley’s brother Tony (Man on Fire) were behind it.

It’s encouraging that mainstream movies are being made for the over-18s and not just the playstation generation. And American Gangster continues 2007’s trend for seventies-style character-driven films (like Zodiac and Michael Clayton). This is mature film-making from a veteran director trying new tricks. But Scorsese and Michael Mann need not be worried.

Russell Crowe, ‘the only honest cop in America’, does battle with clever, successful black gangster Denzel Washington. Despite a fact-based story, frequent violence, and two likeable leads, it says it all when both Crowe and Washington are acted off the screen by Ruby Dee, who plays Washington’s elderly mother. Unfortunately ‘American Gangster’ is too many other films rolled into one. Better to save your money and see ‘Narc’, ‘Heat’, ‘Goodfellas’ or ‘The Godfather’ rather than this muddled imitation. Still waiting for another hit from Ridley Scott…

BigAss Lunar 21 Nov 2007

This is hard-hitting, fast paced, well-structured, and well-acted movie. Unlike the Godfather series, there is nothing sentimental about this film. It does not grab at your heart-strings. Yet Denzel Washington as Frank Lucas, the real life Harlem African American drug-king cuts a sympathetic figure.

After growing up in North Carolina and seeing his cousin shot by the Klan he comes to Harlem, and is the guardian and trainee of Bumpy Johnson, drug-lord, for 15 years. When his mentor dies he sends for his large family and cultivates his own drug empire buying direct from the manufacturers in Asia with the transport assistance from a military cousin-in-law. He becomes more successful than the Italian Mafia by keeping a low profile, with a steely self-control, quiet ordered existence, and policy of ‘honesty’ and integrity in his business dealings. He does have the predictable brushes with the mafia and bad cops, who want a piece of the action, but this is refreshingly well-handled.

Love is his Achilles' heel. He makes the mistake of showing his power with a showy coat bought by his fiancee (later his wife), which he wears to a high profile boxing match with special seats close to the ring. The latter, in particular, alerts Federal Government bad cops, as well as honest cop, Ritchie Roberts (Russell Crowe), who is assigned the task of cleaning up Harlem. Lucas ships back the ‘Blue Magic’ in steel temporary coffins containing dead soldiers, which the military refuse to let Roberts handle, but Roberts does not give up. He and his team trace the later empty coffins to a housing estate, where Lucas’ cohorts are finally brought to justice in an extended violent scenario.

A long movie, over 2 ½ hours, but well worth it, especially when you can watch it on the Vue's huge screens and become part of the action!

Francine Baker 16 Nov 2007