Plot Overview
After taking years to write and polish the final draft of the script, replacing the screenwriter, changing the two leads that included Don Cheadle and Benicio Del Toro, and even the director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day), American Gangster finally hit the screens nationwide last weekend. This is a fact-based, 1970s-era gangster picture that is sure to be a major Oscar contender at the end-of-the-year awards. The movie takes place on the mean streets of Harlem during the height of the Vietnam War. It crosscuts between the stories of Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), an appealing heroin kingpin and Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe), an incorruptible cop. The movie chronicles Frank’s rise to power and precisely shows how he smuggled the “Blue Magic” drug into the country in the coffins of soldiers returning from the Vietnam War. He is also paradoxically portrayed as a caring husband, who has high morals and extreme devotion to his family. On the other hand, Richie comes off as a Serpico-like cop, who is so good at his job, but his personal life is a mess because he is a womanizer and not such a good father. These two men on the opposite sides of the law are on a collision course where their lives will inevitably meet.

The Good
This is a Ridley Scott film. A master filmmaker, he has made some of the most memorable pictures in the past 30 years, including Alien (1979), Blade Runner (1982), Thelma & Louise (1991) and Gladiator (2000). His exceptional directing truly elevates American Gangster from the mediocre grounds that so many films this year have covered. There is a great attention to period detail, which really seems to nail the look and feel of 1970s New York City. Scott’s film has a slick visual style and vivid colors, which recalls P.T. Anderson’s masterpiece Boogie Nights (1997). Why this is important is because the movie is so well crafted and smoothly told, that its running time of 157 minutes really does not feel long. It does not get boring for a second. On a different note, the cast is enormously talented and diverse, which includes Josh Brolin, Chiwetal Ejiofor, Ted Levine, John Hawkes, RZA, Ruby Dee, John Ortiz, Cuba Gooding Jr., Armand Assante and Common. Most of all, the film belongs to Washington and his electrifying performance, which should earn him yet another Best Actor Academy Award nomination.

The Bad
It is intriguing to notice that the usual moody, atmospheric touch of Scott’s camera is entirely absent from his latest movie. American Gangster bears too many similarities to the films of Martin Scorsese and Sidney Lumet and there are striking resemblances to Ted Demme’s Blow (2001). In addition, its running time is a bit pushy, and the ending is not completely satisfying. Most of all, Scott’s film is neither revolutionary nor original, and there is a feeling that his message will be easily misconstrued among many of its admirers.

Final Word
Apart from its flaws here and there, Scott and his producers had guts to name their movie American Gangster. They took pride in it and the final product is an intelligent, exciting and absorbing film that is compulsively entertaining. One of the best compliments I can pay it is that it works not only as a gangster movie, but as a fascinating character study as well.