American Gangster

Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Denzel Washington, Russel Crowe
Running Time: 157 min.
Rated R for violence, pervasive drug content and language, nudity and sexuality
4 out of 5 stars

Ridley Scott’s American Gangster is a film that doesn’t do anything particularly new or innovative, but with Denzel Washington and Russel Crowe in the leads, who’s going to argue? Both men exude charisma throughout the proceedings, and their nuanced acting make the film a pleasure to sit through, even if it does feel a little slow and derivative. The film manages to mix together two stock genres—blaxploitation and the classic rise-and-fall gangster film—and make it work well. If you’re looking for a genre fix, you could do a lot worse.

American Gangster tells the true story (in fact, it wastes no time in pointing out that it’s a true story—not only in the trailer, but in the opening titles as well) of Frank Lucas (Washington), a Harlem drug lord who was able to corner the heroin market by eliminating the middle man and selling a product that was purer and cheaper than his competitors’. The viewers are presented with his (wait for it) rise and fall, with detective Ritchie Roberts (Crowe) playing cat-and-mouse with him the whole time. The characters are well-developed, with neither the “good guy” nor the “bad guy” being all good or all bad. Indeed, Crowe’s character is arguably compelling simply because he’s so flawed.

The cinematography is also quite well-done. The highlight of the film is probably a scene that juxtaposes Lucas praying over a family dinner with scenes of people shooting up heroin and generally being miserable in Harlem. Again, we’ve seen this sort of thing before, but it’s well done here.

So it’s a good film if you’re just looking for a gangster flick. It’s also a better-than-average look at the drug trade. The filmmakers try their best to place the dirty dealings in their socioeconomic context, showing both their causes and effects—in addition to the corruption of the officials charged with preventing it. Crowe’s character is steadfast in his stance against drugs, but fails in nearly every other aspect of life. Washington is ruthless in his manipulation of both the drug markets and everyone around him, but cares deeply for his family. Again, nothing new, but the two actors make it work.

I myself have never really understood what people love about gangster films so much. Not only are they all the same, they manipulate you into rooting for the bad guy, and then pretend to oppose crime at the end (usually with a tacked-on conclusion where the default protagonist gets his comeuppance). If you’re into these things, American Gangster is a solid choice, and offers the added twist that its central character isn’t Italian (something more than adequately pointed out throughout the trailer, to say nothing of the movie itself). It won’t change your life, but it’s a well-made film.