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Joined: 23/6/2006
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Synopsis
In 1968's New York, Frank Lucas (Washington) becomes the first black kingpin to go up against the American mafia, only to be taken down by Detective Richie Roberts (Crowe).
Review
Hollywood's most respected British filmmaker, Sir Ridley Scott is a director who knows how to create worlds from the past and the future, such as Blade Runner and Gladiator. But when it comes to modern films, like G.I. Jane and Hannibal, they're nothing more than just visual pieces. Reuniting with Russell 'Maximus' Crowe, Scott introduces his fourth masterpiece that is his first take on the gangster genre.
The rise of Frank Lucas is somewhat extroadinary. And we are shown his brilliance in many ways; for examole how he was able to shift the finest heroin from Vietnma, during the war, to America. He placed the entire heroin shipment in military coffins that were shipped back to the States. The way in which Scott shoot the Vietnam scenes, feels like a Werner Herzog documentary, without the strange accent, apparant in Grizzly Man.
One of the most successful screenwriters, Steven Zaillian, whose screenplay based on the article The Return of Superfly by Mark Jacobson. After countless drafts from various writers, Scott specifically chose Zaillian's draft, which is told in a fresh way from other crime flicks. He doesn't construct the film like another Scarface that just tells the rise and fall of the gangster. He tells one about the loser cop who does succeed. It has somewhat the same direction as Michael Mann's Heat, that seperates the two protagonists for most of the film to bring them together at the climax.
Looking at previous gangster movies like The French Connection and The Godfather, Ridley Scott directed this particular feature in a way that Francis Ford Coppola or Martin Scorsese couldn't do. He treats it in a documentary style in which you can see the big picture, for example, the infamous boxing sequence, where hundreds of people goingover the red carpet to see the fight that made Muhammad Ali the Heavyweight champion of the world. This is a sign that Ridley Scott is the perfect director of American Gangster.
Denzel Washington does an excellent portrayal of Frank Lucas, whose scenes show a Jekyll and Hyde side to his character. Russell Crowe is succeeds more as a downbeat, boy scout cop who can't get anything right while he deals with corrupt partners. There is great support behind the two lead stars, such as Cuba Gooding Jr as Nicky Barnes, New York's most stylish drug dealer at that time. The best word to describe him is... funkee.
As a film that is set in the 1970s, American Gangster provides an excellent soundtrack, including Bobby Womack's classic 'Across 110th Street'. The song is a nice nod back to Quentin Tarantno's third feature Jackie Brown. No matter what film has that tune, it makes it the five minutes of any film.
In one back story, Roberts' assignment is interrupted by the Special Investigations Unit, led by a slimeball of a cop, Josh Brolin, another great support. He may be a boy scout, but Roberts always had a shitty family life, where he was both a bad father and husband to Laurie (Carla Gugino). This may sound a predictable plot device from previous cop thrillers, but that story comes and goes, because it's not the point of the film. This is the same with Lymary Nadal, as Eva Lucas; only there are more scenes in which she gets more involved in the central story. From shootout to dialogue confrontation between Lucas and Roberts. The last twenty minutes shows the ultimate fates of these two characters which is surprising.
Verdict
Best film since Gladiator? Yes. This is Hollywood's most respected British director in top form once again.
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Printable Version
Very Gripping. - 
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