Ridley Scott
American Gangster

A few weeks ago, I found myself posting about a film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe: A Good Year. The film was an absolute disaster. Driven by a love for gambling, I picked another film from the video store featuring the same duo: American Gangster. This film has the addition of a significant ingredient: Denzel Washington. Even this doesn't promise well, why? The only film I remember starring both Crowe and Washington was a lousy sci-fi movie that occasionally airs on TV, which I carefully avoid watching again: Virtuosity.

Anyway, despite the premise, I decided to give this over 2-hour-long film a shot. Overall impression: very well done.

Besides these two superstars, the cast includes many other famous names: Cuba Gooding Jr, Carla Gugino, and James Brolin. Certainly, a good movie isn't made by the cast alone.

In fact, this work by Scott is not bad at all, both in its narrative complexity, in its editing, and content; the only downside being that it was released a year after the much-acclaimed The Departed, from which it seems to have tried to borrow something, I can't exactly say what, but there are elements throughout the film that reminded me of it.

The story, as stated at the beginning of the film, is based on real events. It's the late '60s, and an incorruptible cop, Crowe, is put in charge of a completely independent narcotics team in New Jersey. On the other side, a gangster driver, Washington, decides to achieve the same business success as his patron when his employer dies. His road to success is a line of heroin that reaches directly from Vietnam to New York. 

Here, the stories of the two antagonists intertwine with those of many other co-stars, like corrupt police, the Italian mob, and a wife who is desperate for a divorce.

Crowe, as many say, has only one face and knows only how to play himself; however, in this case, his face is the right face in the right place. Washington is a notch above the Australian, but even he is now limiting himself to playing the same characters. Worth mentioning is the consideration made by the gangster Washington: "Is the loudest one in the room the weakest one in the room?".

The only real flaw of the film is its slowness, which leads it to run for over 2 hours and causes an ending that is too rushed compared to the rest of the narrative.

Enjoy the View