MOVIE REVIEW: “American Gangster”
“American Gangster” (2007)
Directed/Produced by: Ridley Scott
Written by: Steve Zailian, Mark Jacobson
Also Produced By: Brian Grazer
Cinematography: Harris Savides
Starring: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Josh Brolin
****** out of a possible 4 Stars
Here’s the challenge: you’ve got 80 years of gangster films to compare to. There’s a plethora of great ones such as “Scarface” (1983), starring Al Pacino, “The Godfather” by Francis Ford Copolla (1972), starring Al Pacino, and then there is The Godfather himself of gangster films, Martin Scorsese. Scorsese altered the genre forever with “Mean Streets” and then he stacked “Goodfellas” on top of that and finally got and Oscar for “The Departed” last year. Do how do you top these?
You watch two brothers named Scott make careers of directing. In 1993, Tony Scott made an absolutely cult classic with “True Romance,” putting together a phenomenal cast and an unforgettable title song. The pacing and editing were brilliant. The other brother, named Ridley Scott, is almost always a sure bet when going to the theater.
“American Gangster” blows the Oscar winning “The Departed” away. It is light years better. And I’m a huge fan of Scorsese. Mark me down for an Oscar to Ridley for Best Director and then hand him another for Best Picture. And while we’re in an Oscar mode, Denzel Washington should walk away with his second for Best Actor. He’s better in “American Gangster” than he was in “Training Day,” the movie that got him his first Oscar in 2002. This is his best effort yet. Washington playing the Harlem gangster Frank Lucas, gives the most original performance seen in any gangster film—ever!
What he does here is to invent a new style of gangster much the same way as Clint Eastwood did in Sergio Leone’s “Dollar” trilogy that culminated in “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.” The key connection here is the moral ambiguity that permeates and blisters to the surface at every turn. Leone and Eastwood completely altered the known western universe—they invented post-apocalyptic realism never before seen.
What Scott and Washington have done to the gangster landscape is to drag it to a new level of relevance. “American Gangster” is now the new benchmark.
Russell Crowe is no slouch, either. In Crowe’s role as Richie Roberts, a New York cop, becoming a federal special agent, who becomes a defense lawyer, also gives us a whole brand new breed of cannibal. This is an oxymoron (of sorts) that adds a dimension of moral ethicality to the definition of cannibal. It is delicious!
Ridley Scott also knows how to hire cinematographers. The makers of “Things We Lost in the Fire” should pay attention. How the dog-breathing-pathetic-delusional idiot Tom Stern convinced his director to trust his incompetent shooting techniques is beyond comprehension. Stern should be forced in to solitary confinement and made to watch “American Gangster” for the next 365 days. If he doesn’t learn anything by then, ban him from looking through camera lenses for life.
There are still six weeks left to get films released for the Oscar hopefuls. It doesn’t matter. “American Gangster” is already the best film. I suggest you see it once a week until next year.
