Dir. Ridley Scott, US, 2007, 157 mins
Cast: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Josh Brolin, Chewetel Ejiofor, Common, Carla Gugino
Review By Matthew Rodgers
It’s difficult to avoid genre trappings with the gangster movie, so call American Gangster what you like for billboard purposes; Heat with a Beat, Scarface in the Hood, or even a whole season of HBO’s The Wire condensed into two gripping hours, because like its powder peddling protagonist Frank Lucas, it stands heads and shoulders above the competitors to emerge as director Ridley Scott’s best film since Gladiator.
Set amongst the cultural malaise of 1970’s Vietnam-era America, young crime flunky Frank Lucas (Washington) decides to manipulate the capitalist ideals of the U S of A and create his own version of the American Dream™. In order to do this he feeds off the remnants of a questionable war (allowing comparisons with the modern climate) by importing drugs from Vietnam and rising to the top of the Harlem food-chain. Running parallel to this is the investigation by the all-American named Ritchie Roberts (Crowe), a low-key cop, despised by his colleagues for turning over a cash haul of over a million dollars, and loathed by his wife.
Comparisons with Michael Mann’s Heat are unavoidable as two acting juggernauts collide. Washington and Crowe are reunited for the first time since techno-turkey Virtuosity over a decade ago and both turn in extremely powerful performances. There is no denying that the central role is Washington’s alluring monster, a pre-credit sequence has him burning a victim alive without a moment’s hesitation, and his Lucas is almost Training Day’s Alonzo culturally and contextually relocated to the 70’s. The problem is we have seen this all before from Denzel and no matter how brilliant he is the glorifying of this persona sidetracks the more interesting character aspects of Crowe’s Roberts. Vulnerable and fallible as a man but dedicated as a cop, it could have been his most intense performance since Bud White but it feels as though most of his character development ended up on the cutting room floor.
The major crime that Gangster commits is wasting the clash of these two titans that occurs in the final reel. Meticulous slow-burn for 120 mins fizzles out into a quick-fire on-screen text narrated, almost “buddy” like confrontation between the two. It’s all that stops the film being an instant classic.
What does smack of quality is Ridley Scott’s direction that exorcises the demons of A Good Year and reminds everyone what a unique visionary he is. The stand-out sequence is a montage of Franks activities interjected with scenes of those suffering at the hands of the drugs he sells, powerful and poignant stuff. The evocation of the 70s is key to seducing the audience into Lucas’s world, from the soundtrack soaked speak-easy’s to the run-down drug dens; it is set design and cinematography of the highest order.
American Gangster is never dull, expertly assembled, always gripping, with central performances that should find their names into golden envelopes come next spring; but it’s criminal that it’s only sporadically epic and bungles the payoff.
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