American Gangster (1997)

[Movie 272 / Day 288]

Based on a true story and set in the late ’60s/early ’70s, AMERICAN GANGSTER tells the story of Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) who finds a way of bringing very cheap, very pure heroin into the USA. Interleaved with this is the story of Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe), an honest detective that is studying to become a lawyer.

Their stories cross as Lucas builds his drug empire and Roberts is put in charge of the task force charged with bringing down the head drug dealers in Harlem.

It’s everything you’d expect of a high quality thriller; the acting is good and the script is solid. However, it isn’t everything you’d expect of a high quality thriller by Ridley Scott. While everything is essentially good, for me, the movie never seemed to rise to the level of excellence I was expecting. Surprisingly, I thought Josh Brolin put in a far better turn than either Washington or Crowe (both of whom seemed to be rehashing previous roles). Brolin plays Detective Trupo, a corrupt cop that is playing every side possible for his own personal gain – and he plays it extremely well, although he is aided by a magnificent moustache.

My only other problem with it was it felt long. It is long, with a runtime of 157 minutes – goodness knows what the 176 unrated version must be like – but I was expecting that to fly by as I was immersed in 1970s Harlem. That didn’t happen and the movie seemed to drag a little towards the end; and just as it feels like the end is in sight, the post-arrest drama arrives to wrap everything up.

Don’t misunderstand me, it is a good movie; it’s just not as good as I hoped.

My Rating:
[ IMDB rating: 8.0 / 10 | IMDB link | Running time: 157 mins ]