American Gangster - Ridley Scott (2007)

Ridley Scott’s (Blade Runner, Gladiator) latest attempt to replicate past glories tells the true story of Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) as he rises from unknown Harlem driver to become one of America’s most powerful and feared crime-bosses.  Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) is the outcast cop and trainee lawyer obsessed with bringing him and his corrupt colleagues in the police force to justice.

American Gangster is by no means a bad film. It is certainly ambitious, looking to emulate classics of the genre such as Goodfellas, The French Connection and The Untouchables in their scope and intensity. Sadly for Scott and the audience, it does not come close to the class of those earlier crime movies. Clocking in at 156 minutes and featuring an impressive supporting cast (Josh Brolin, Carla Gugino, Chwetel Ejoifor), the movie promises an epic depth but never really delivers.  The two leads are solid enough, although Washington at times looks uncomfortable playing a ruthless killer – a scene where he shoots a rival through the head is particularly forced and unnatural.

The film is good on the intricacies and politics of the 70’s New York drug scene, and the level of period detail is impressive. However unless you are a prospective cocaine dealer or pimp, an engaging and entertaining thriller this does not make. The episodic nature of the piece swiftly begins to grate. Moreover, the constant personality comparison between the two main characters – both are supposed to be highly ethical men in their respective careers – is an unsubtle and patronising device to try to lend the movie a purpose it simply does not have.  It could be said that any attempt to study the moral ambiguities within the American legal system is welcome, but the way it is handled is weak and ultimately unproductive.  The levels of gratuitous violence add little to the overall believability of the plot, which for a film based on a true story obviously does not help.

The movie clearly wants to be some kind of a treatise on the American Dream – Lucas (and to some extent Roberts) struggles with his humble background and prejudice to achieve extraordinary wealth and influence.  However, it is difficult to have much sympathy for either protagonist. Lucas comes across as cold and unsympathetic – even his supposedly devoted relationship with his wife is strained and awkward – and Roberts is played as the kind of troubled ‘maverick’ cop who doesn’t know which side of the fence to sit on.

If all of this sounds overly harsh it is only because the viewing of the film is so very disappointing.  What could have been a tough, hard-bitten study of American crime comes out as a messy, unlikeable movie.  A true shame as the cast and crew are capable of so much more.