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Synopsis:
Academy Award®-winner Russell Crowe is an honest cop battling drugs and police corruption in 1970s New York. The main focus of his investigation is a huge heroin empire built by a charismatic black drug dealer (Academy Award®-winner Denzel Washington) who imports enormous amounts of top-grade heroin from Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. Working from a powerful screenplay by Academy Award®-winning writer Steven Zaillian ("Schindler's List"), Academy Award®-nominated director Ridley Scott helms a taut and gritty crime drama featuring powerhouse performances from its heavyweight leading men. Based on a true story.
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Screen Format: Color
Language: English
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CRITIC REVIEWS
Lew Irwin
Reviews of American Gangster , starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, are split between love and hate. On the love side is Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times who awards it a four-star ranking. "This is an engrossing story, told smoothly and well," he writes. Likewise, Joe Morgenstern in the Wall Street Journal sums up: "It's a great big gangster film, and a good one." Claudia Puig in USA Today concludes that it "is probably the best gangster crime drama of the year." And Stephen Hunter in the Washington Post raves, "In American Gangster, time doesn't fly, it explodes." The thing is 2 1/2 hours long; it feels like 40 minutes. Whether it's the next great American crime movie or simply this year's professional stunner will be determined over the net few months." On the other hand, Jack Mathews in the New York Daily News says he likes the final 40 minutes of the movie, "but the film is 2 hours and 40 minutes long, and the runup, setup or whatever-up you want to call the first two hours is largely a drag." Jan Stuart in Newsday says "the film begins to show its flab about two-thirds in." Michael Sragow in the Baltimore Sun pronounces it an intriguing true story turned into "facile melodrama" and dismisses it as kind of "a cover version of a Scorsese, Coppola or De Palma movie." Which is apparently good enough for Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle who writes: "So it's not a classic. ... Instead, it can be classed as a respectable second-tier entry."
Reviewed by: quintusIX on 4/21/2008 6:46:38 PM
i am guessing the reason ridley scott wasted himself and his actors on this tepid addition to the gangster movie genre is the fact that departed pulled in all those prizes two years ago...crowe plays against his usual identity as a detective who seems unusually frowzy even for a frowzy detective iteration...if he would just take off those sunglasses...
Lew Irwin
Reviews of American Gangster , starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, are split between love and hate. On the love side is Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times who awards it a four-star ranking. "This is an engrossing story, told smoothly and well," he writes. Likewise, Joe Morgenstern in the Wall Street Journal sums up: "It's a great big gangster film, and a good one." Claudia Puig in USA Today concludes that it "is probably the best gangster crime drama of the year." And Stephen Hunter in the Washington Post raves, "In American Gangster, time doesn't fly, it explodes." The thing is 2 1/2 hours long; it feels like 40 minutes. Whether it's the next great American crime movie or simply this year's professional stunner will be determined over the net few months." On the other hand, Jack Mathews in the New York Daily News says he likes the final 40 minutes of the movie, "but the film is 2 hours and 40 minutes long, and the runup, setup or whatever-up you want to call the first two hours is largely a drag." Jan Stuart in Newsday says "the film begins to show its flab about two-thirds in." Michael Sragow in the Baltimore Sun pronounces it an intriguing true story turned into "facile melodrama" and dismisses it as kind of "a cover version of a Scorsese, Coppola or De Palma movie." Which is apparently good enough for Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle who writes: "So it's not a classic. ... Instead, it can be classed as a respectable second-tier entry."
Reviewed by: quintusIX on 4/21/2008 6:46:38 PM
i am guessing the reason ridley scott wasted himself and his actors on this tepid addition to the gangster movie genre is the fact that departed pulled in all those prizes two years ago...crowe plays against his usual identity as a detective who seems unusually frowzy even for a frowzy detective iteration...if he would just take off those sunglasses...
American Gangster has 8 user ratings.
Customer Reviews for
American Gangster
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Reviewed by: quintusIX on 4/21/2008 6:46:38 PM
i am guessing the reason ridley scott wasted himself and his actors on this tepid addition to the gangster movie genre is the fact that departed pulled in all those prizes two years ago...crowe plays against his usual identity as a detective who seems unusually frowzy even for a frowzy detective iteration...if he would just take off those sunglasses...
(Read More Customer Reviews...)Reviewed by: BDyckns on 4/19/2008 10:23:04 PM
Not a wild west show but a fantastic trip back to the change of decades from 60s to 70s and a character, gangster, I never read about or , I'de venture, 99% of the general public ever heard about.Frank Lucas was a real gangster. Liberties are taken as to how he rose and who he associated with, but Frank Lucas was a man who "made" it. Yes, it was via narcotics and many people died from these or lives were ruined but this is an intriguing look back in American Gangster History.Remarks as to the main actor's in a previous review who quoted someone else's review should be ignored for what they are, ignorance. Both Crowe and Washington are great in the roles. Crowe, in my opinion, should just speak as he speaks because he does an excellent job at a New York accent BUT, to me, I kept seeing and hearing his countryman Mel Gibson. Well directed, 1968 to 1975 all portrayed believable with no flaws I could see. And I would see them, if they were there.It's not a bang-bang movie folks but a character study and look at how things are where they are today in the drug war...Nowhere...The end will be very satisfying for those waiting for the shots to crack out. Believe me, very satisfied.If you weren't there, this is a good chance to see a piece of how it was although a very narrow piece. If you were there...You'll love the look back and might even learn a thing or two.I love the movies, like "American Grafitti" and others, when going in you don't realise it's a true story or based on a true, living person. At the end I was knocked out when the "facts" all came up and went on a fruitful journey into Frank Lucas' life which led me into others.Both Crowe's character and Washington's are real. Along with the rest of the cast.I enjoyed it. I learned from it. Then I got a present...It was real.By the way..Russell Crowe has sunglasses on for about 4 to 5 seconds in the entire 2 plus hours of the movie. Watch it!
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