Movie Review - 'American Gangster'

American Gangster

Starring Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, and Josh Brolin
Directed by Ridley Scott
Rated R

They’re pretty impressive numbers: Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe have a combined eight Academy Award nominations and three wins. Throw director Ridley Scott into the equation and you’ve suddenly bumped the Oscar nominations into double digits.

So the numbers don’t lie. You should expect a degree of greatness from American Gangster. But the numbers, unfortunately, don’t tell the full story. American Gangster projects itself as a terribly important film that ultimately is just another drug lord movie that happens to star a couple of the most dominant actors of their generation. Hate to break it to you.

Frank Lucas (Washington) was a forward-thinking hood in the New York organized crime scene in the late 1960s. Importing heroin directly from Vietnam during the war – and utilizing terribly unscrupulous methods to do so – Lucas discovered that he could sell a product with twice as much quality for half the price by eliminating the middle man.

Simple economics, really.

And Lucas was wise to keep a low profile, operating as a businessman instead of a kingpin, which kept the newly-minted task force under the direction of straight-laced cop Richie Roberts (Crowe), who, in addition to wanting cleaner streets free of drugs and drug-related violence also wants to shake the corruption out of the police force, constantly lining its pockets with the lucre of drug deals gone sour.

Roberts and Lucas don’t have a thing in common except a constant suspicion of Detective Trupo (Josh Brolin), who makes no secret about his ties to the heroin trade, thinking he’s both above the law and the enforcement of the law itself.

Ridley Scott has made a handful of some of the most memorable films in the past 30 years, but American Gangster is not one of them. When it takes its rightful place alongside the great crime films like GoodFellas, The Godfather and the brilliant Brazilian import City of God, American Gangster is clearly in the shadows. Despite being a very compelling story with a few fantastic scenes, it doesn’t have much energy or forward momentum, which would help a two-and-a-half hour film find its way a little easier.

Instead, there are subplots – Roberts’ divorce, Lucas’ family – that get in the way of the real story, one that’s stockpiled with interesting characters and powerful actors. Surprisingly, it’s neither Washington nor Crowe who shines brightest in American Gangster, but rather Josh Brolin, in a breakout performance that gives a dark side and a swagger to a film unbelievably in desperate need of both.