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American Gangster
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Review #558 of 365
Movie Review of American Gangster (2007) [R] 157 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $13.50
Where Viewed: United Artists Denver Pavilion
When 1st Seen: 2 November 2007
Time: 4:45 pm
DVD Release Date: 19 February 2008 (click date to purchase or pre-order)
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer
Soundtrack: order the CD below
Directed by: Ridley Scott (A Good Year)
Written by: Steven Zaillian (All the King's Men) based on article "The Return of Superfly" by Mark Jacobson
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Denzel Washington (Déjà Vu) • Russell Crowe (3:10 to Yuma) • Chiwetel Ejiofor (Talk to Me) • Josh Brolin (In the Valley of Elah) • Lymari Nadal (Thieves and Liars) • Ted Levine (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) • Roger Guenveur Smith (The Take) • John Hawkes (Miami Vice) • RZA (The Lather Effect) • Yul Vazquez (Fast Track) • Malcolm Goodwin (The Architect) • Ruby Dee (The Way Back Home) • Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Mr. Brooks) • Carla Gugino (The Lookout) • Skyler Fortgang (The Cry) • John Ortiz (Cantante, El) • Cuba Gooding Jr (Daddy Day Camp) • Armand Assante ("ER") • Kathleen Garrett (Copshop) • Joe Morton (The Night Listener) • Ritchie Coster (The Sentinel) • Bari K. Willerford (Hot Date) • Idris Elba (The Reaping)
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
Click to see photos from the Premiere of American Gangster
Click to read the spoiler points for American Gangster
Despite having two super-charged performances from Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington, American Gangsters, quite simply, is kind of a drag. Part of the problem, and there are many problems from which to choose, is that Director, Ridley Scott, likes to make slow-moving epics; and that, frankly, is what he's best at. Should a gangster picture be a slow-moving epic such that its running time of 157 minutes actually feels like 257 minutes? Most people would probably politely decline to answer the question. Second up there's the problem with the story. The story isn't sure what it's trying to tell. It's not a feel good story about a smart guy who works his way from the bottom of the feeding pond to the top-floor penthouse as was Will Smith's
The Pursuit of Happyness. No, it can't be that because the main character, also a real person, is gangster Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington). He didn't make it to the top of his game with just his smarts, he used guns, murders, and drugs. Likewise, its not a feel good story about the lawyer cop who helps bring him to justice, Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe), because while Richie might be the most ethical cop in the history of New England, his personal life is far, far from it.
"… two great performances in a slow-moving, almost pastoral look at the life of one of the most successful personal American gangsters…"
Also, other than posting a lot of pictures on portable chalk boards and arranging them into hierarchies, Richie really doesn't come across as being that good at what he does. He's got a bit of bravery maybe. He'd got some minor deductive reasoning skills, maybe, but as for being a superstar cop, he just doesn't come across that way. Maybe he was in real life. On the one hand we have a typical hero vs. villain film, except that the villain is so much more interesting and magnanimous it's easy to forget that the way he made over $250,000,000 in his lifetime was by importing a very pure grade of heroine using military personnel and selling the highly addictive more potent drug all over the New Your City metropolitan region. The film does show the tortured lives of addicts and the impacts of their addiction in a brief way. Finally, when Frank Lucas goes down, and you pretty much have to know that he's going to from the very beginning, it's not entirely clear how the story wants you to feel. Are you supposed to feel glad or disappointed? Not only does he go down big, but he takes nearly his entire family, brothers and cousins, down with him. Nearly every one he knows and a giant percentage of the New York City narcotics division go down in one fell swoop. Its actually pretty awful to think that such a large percentage of the people being paid with tax dollars to take down crime lords, were 'on the take' from crime lords or blackmailing them for even larger sums of money. One particularly nasty detective played by Josh Brolin is slimiest person in the film. He's supposed to be a good guy, and yet he's got his finger in everyone's pot, literally and figuratively. For these reasons, the film might have been better entitled American Tragedy.
With a story that's unsure of its own direction and main characters that are difficult to like, the net result is a film that's equally impossible to enjoy. Which leaves, of course, the acting and the lead performances. Russell Crowe proves, yet again, to be most worthy of the mantle, Male Meryl Streep. He can legitimately play any character perfectly from ancient gladiator to cigarette scientist to Essex County narcotics cop without missing a beat in either the accent or character creation. He's simply one of the best actors out there alive today. As for Denzel Washington, he too has assembled a brilliant acting portfolio; and this performance, as Frank Lucas, is no exception. He is outstanding. He never wavers even once from his convictions to his eventual conviction. If you are a big fan of Denzel Washington, though, you're going to have legitimate reasons to ask why he took this role.
"… flawed the film plays like an epic without an epic hero or even, for that matter, a truly epic story."
He must have realized that, ultimately, it would be difficult for many young people to misidentify with the character precisely because of the way in which Denzel Washington would be able to portray him. In fact, you can occasionally find yourself thinking, just for a moment, how 'cool' it would have been to be Frank Lucas. That's the fundamental problem with all of the great American gangster films. They glamorization and 'celebritizing' of the gangsters themselves is both counter intuitive and productive. Frank Lucas was a big shot. But he was a ruthless and villainous man who rose to 'greatness' on the backs of thousands of drug addicts and junkies who bought his product because they were physically and mentally unable not to. He was not, actually, therefore a 'great' person. Had he used his obvious intelligence to achieve the same stature by selling a legal, non-narcotic product that would have been a different story. Meanwhile, the rest of the parts pale in comparison to the two leads. While certainly Chiwetel Ejiofor as Huey Lucas, Ruby Dee as Mama Lucas, Josh Brolin as Detective Trupo, and Armand Assante as Dominic Cattano stood out in their individual roles, the rest of the cast is basically a blur.
As a net result of two great performances in a slow-moving, almost pastoral look at the life of one of the most successful personal American gangsters, the flawed film plays like an epic without an epic hero or even, for that matter, a truly epic story.
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Cast Members
Denzel Washington • Russell Crowe • Chiwetel Ejiofor
Josh Brolin • Lymari Nadal • Ted Levine
Roger Guenveur Smith • John Hawkes
Yul Vazquez • Carla Gugino • Ruby Dee
Skyler Fortgang • John Ortiz • Cuba Gooding Jr
Armand Assante • Kathleen Garrett • Joe Morton
Ritchie Coster • Bari K. Willerford • Idris Elba
Director
Ridley Scott
Writer
Steven Zaillian
Review-lite
American Gangster (2007) [max of 150 words]
What happens when you put a director known for slow-moving, pastoral epics in charge of gangster film? You get Ridley Scott's slow-moving, pastoral American Gangsters. Despite near legendary performances by two of the earth's most respected and honored living actors, Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, the story of Frank Lucas's meteoric rise from driver and side-kick to major drug lord, lacks freshness and action. Too much emphasis is placed on Lucas's wardrobe and his nemesis, Richie Roberts's lack of one. There's no denying the caliber of the leading performances, unfortunately, two great performances in a slow-moving, almost pastoral look at the life of one of the most successful personal American gangsters cannot undo a flawed film that plays like an epic without an epic hero or even, for that matter, a truly epic story.
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1 comment:
i thought it was intersting you were "distracted" or "aware" of it's slow moving nature in this film.
i know i didn't find it nearly as slow as you did.
in a way it's pacing reminded me very much of munich.
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