When you hear
Denzel
and Crowe are in the same movie, it sounds like a showdown for the
ages, like
DeNiro taking on Pacino, but American Gangster never gives you that
amazing
explosion you might be expecting (kind of like when DeNiro and Pacino
got
together in Heat). It’s
just a solid
film instead of being legendary, which is nothing to be ashamed of.
Denzel
Washington stars as Frank Lucas – an ambitious crime lord in
late 1960’s and
early 1970’s Harlem. To reach the pinnacle of
his business, Frank
has established his own source of the best heroin he can sell on the
streets,
and structured his distribution and supply lines to minimize costs,
keep his
prices down and dominate the drug trade in New York (He’s
like Wal-Mart, but
evil in an illegal way). Before
you know
it, he is the king of crime and has more power than the Mafia (I
don’t dare
insert a Wal-Mart joke there). However,
a similarly ambitious cop, Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe), has been put
in
charge of a special unit looking to attack the illegal drug trade, and
he
quickly realizes he must bring down Frank to achieve that goal.
Will Richie be
able to put Frank in jail? Will
the
corrupt cops or Mafia get to one of them first?
American Gangster is a good film, even a very good film, but doesn’t quite live up to
the hype. However, that fact doesn’t
make the movie a failure.
Director Ridley
Scott and writer Steve Zaillian (based on a New Yorker article by Mark
Jacobson) do a very good job giving us plenty of information about Roberts and
Lucas, showing each one rising through the ranks of his respective profession,
but American Gangster takes a while to get going. I like how Scott is trying to show the
parallel rise of Roberts and Lucas, as well as contrast the glamorous and rich
lifestyle of the criminal versus the working class struggles of the lawman, but
we don’t get into the battle between them until later in the film. It’s a movie that needs more complexity,
intrigue, action, danger and energy a little bit earlier. We know these two are on a collision course,
so let’s get on the path a bit sooner.
Sadly, one of
the biggest surprises in the movie, and one Scott tries to build up to
throughout the film, is something you probably already know if you have seen
one interview, one commercial or heard one piece of the Frank Lucas story. Scott tries to work up to a “shocking”
revelation of how Frank gets the heroin into the country, but most
of us already know, so it’s not as shocking as it should be. I guess Scott didn’t realize this would be
such public knowledge this early into the film’s run, but he got a bit burned
by it.
Meanwhile, Washington is very good,
but has some scenes where he’s hamming it up a bit, usually when angry or giving
us the traditional Denzel laugh. He’s
strong as Washington makes it clear to the audience how Frank changes,
grows
more paranoid and starts to treat people differently as he rises to
power,
while Crowe is the standout performer as the cop with all sorts of
personal
problems, a strong sense of self and a dedication to ethics that could
be his
salvation or downfall. He does a great job making us realize
Roberts is a tough opponent, no matter how badly his personal life is
falling apart.
The last 10 – 15
minutes takes away from American Gangster no matter how true it might be, but
it doesn’t ruin the movie.
3 Waffles (Out of 4)
American Gangster is
rated R for violence, pervasive drug content and language, nudity and sexuality.
Copyright
2007 - WaffleMovies.com