American Gangster as a cop or crime thriller, taking place from the late 60s to the early 70s and evokes the cop thrillers at the time which had cornered cinema, like Sidney Lumet’s Serpico or William Friedkin’s Oscar winning The French Connection. Those films detail the undercurrent themes between the side of the law and the side of the criminal underbelly and how reactionary either side can be when obtaining their ultimate goals of beating each other. The story of American Gangster takes place in Harlem where gangster Bumpy Johnson, passes away and leaves his protege Frank Lucas (played by Denzel Washington) to take control of Harlem once again.
Attempting to make a name for himself, he successfully sets up a system where he imports pure uncut heroin, from top producers in Vietnam, through secret military contacts and soon he becomes the celebrity and crime kingpin of Harlem City. Meanwhile maverick cop Richie Roberts (played by Russell Crowe) is facing a divorce and a potential separation from his child as well as trust issues from his partners and superiors for booking in unmarked cash that was found in the boot of a car. Dealing with the loss of his corrupt partner, Roberts is assigned to lead up a drug case that potentially leads back to Frank Lucas himself. What develops is a cat and mouse game of Roberts and crew taking down the charismatic but dangerous Frank Lucas and also uncovering a field of corruption and power that could potentially endanger them and their careers in the process.
This is probably Ridley Scott’s most entertaining film to watch for some time; from the casting, to the locations, to the thrills, to the pacing and the brilliantly written structure of both characters on either side of the fence. Denzel Washington is well cast here, ranging from suave, smug and threatening in all the same features, which brilliantly contrasts with Crowe who is frustrating and even tough to deal with as a character. We know that Frank has effectively built his empire and took care of his family so, while popular, he has to fight to keep himself at the top whilst Roberts has to fight to earn respect and become the decorated cop he wants to be by taking him down. As it is, it makes for an interesting narrative, made effective through the script of Steven Zaillian.
The film is shot in the style of those aforementioned movies, drab and dark lighting with an old-fashioned aesthetic that makes the film raw and gives the film an edge to be aligned with those classic cop thrillers. The film is roughly two and a half hours long but it does move at such a brisk pace which makes use of every minute on screen and while Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe don’t share as much screen time together, there are plenty of stand out performances in the background that are memorable like Idris Elba’s gangster rival character and Josh Brolin’s corrupt detective character that greatly make up the reigns of the plot. The film is nothing less than thrilling and tense, there are high stakes to be had here and while the film follows a predictable path, there’s a great sense of the period in time, that you become invested almost immediately.
On top of that, with a cast that are committed to the storylines on screen, especially Washington and Crowe who do battle with each without any confrontation whatsoever, this makes for a very engaging, smooth, evocative and rough around the edges thriller that creates a stark portrayal of the rise and fall of power and corruption on screen. Miles ahead of what Ridley Scott has made around that period, this is an effective thriller in the best sense of the word.
4 and a half/ 5
Filmlife 