American Gangster
Directed by Ridley Scott
Universal Pictures 2007
By Ian Passy
Before I begin, I wish to regale you, the reader, with a personal, yet relevant, tale. Earlier this year, I took a trip to Europe. Due to events beyond my control, I missed my flight home from Belgium. 24 hours and hundreds of dollars later, I finally found my exhausted and frustrated self on a plane home. However, my ordeal was not over just yet. The in flight film was A Good Year (2006) starring Russell Crowe and directed by Ridley Scott. It was an intensely wretched film that offended me intellectually, emotionally, artistically and dynamically. A horrible, horrible film and I was essentially a captive audience. That day I cursed both Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe from my heart of hearts and vowed I would never ever forgive either of them. Yet, I somehow ended up watching American Gangster.
American Gangster is based on the rise and fall of real life Harlem heroin kingpin Frank Lucas. Lucas’s character is portrayed by Denzel Washington. From what I have ascertained from the in-depth research I have done regarding this film – ie overhear my roommate watch an Entertainment Tonight piece on Denzel Washington’s dog fight for it’s life against some form of dog cancer as I stood over the kitchen sink eating a sandwich – the actor’s portrayal is fairly accurate. In the opposite corner, wearing his finest formal attire wife-beater, we have Russell Crowe as Richie Roberts, the film’s full-time moral compass and part-time douche bag. Roberts is a New Jersey cop turned anti-drug task force leader turned district attorney turned silky butterfly whose mission is to bring down Frank Lucas and his drug empire.
While Crowe does his best to make one’s ears bleed with his character’s ‘Joy-zee’ accent and obnoxious mannerisms, Washington attempts to steal every scene he is in, as usual. Despite both actors constantly pissing on the smoldering, withered remains of that which was once subtlety, the characters more or less work in the context of the story. The film’s supporting cast does well to stay out of the way or get in the way, depending on the situation. As an aside, I think this is the year Josh Brolin’s mustache gets a nod for best supporting actor. Predictably, as Ridley Scott has been making films for a long time, from the technical perspective American Gangster is solid. It’s decently cast and well scored. It is a bit on the long side however; this film is just not engaging enough to warrant the two and a half hours it takes to get through it.
I suppose the film’s greatest strength and weakness is ultimately how predictable it is. It doesn’t do anything that films like Goodfellas, Casino, The Untouchables, Scarface, Billy Bathgate, and countless other American Gangster films before haven’t already done: you know, the typical rise-peak-fall narrative that is practically unavoidable for a film based on real life events. It’s good in that the film is never going to lose your attention, but at the same time it’s never really going to absorb you. Lucas is a charismatic self-absorbed gangster that will stop at nothing to achieve his goal of complete and absolute power over everything within arm’s reach, while Roberts is an obnoxious self absorbed cop that is obsessed with justice and what is ‘right’. You knows how it’s going to end as soon as it starts. However, it’s about the journey, not the destination, though I forget who said so. Frank Lucas, even if he is too large for life, still knows how to make dope the most exciting and filmic of all the illegal narcotics.
