American Gangster

"My man." Two men standing opposite one another. Both on different sides of the law. But first impressions can be wrong... No, this isn’t Mann’s Heat, but American Gangster is very similar. Or so you would have thought. You can even see images reminiscent of Once Upon a Time in America, The Godfather and Goodfellas. Ridley Scott decided that it’s about time that he won one of those director’s awards, and with this movie, it might just work. We can only hope that this won’t be Scott’s swan song. Because this is a perfect and flawless picture. Well, almost perfect. But it has an unignorable snag - everything that this movie shows you, you have seen before in one of the above genre classics. It’s not directly plagiarism, but it has nothing to surprise us with. On the other hand, Scott presents it in such a perfect technical wrapping, so atmospherically and so perfectly cast that this fact is completely overshadowed... American Gangster is a splendid genre picture, but nothing more. For that, it lacks any invention whatsoever. That said, this does nothing to impair the watching experience. (2022-02-09)

Another contribution to the family of top-notch mafia flicks. The first half is a little protracted and boring, but the second half makes up for it. Denzel Washington steals the show, forcing Russell Crowe into the sidekick role. The new Scorsese (The Departed) was more superficial, but stronger in details and with sharper edges. Scott is slower and less flashy, but also more harmonic and easy to follow. The kings of the genres for me are still Coppola (The Godfather) De Palma (Scarface) and old Scorsese (Goodfellas). (2007-12-20)

After being urged by a fried for several months, I finally watched American Gangster and I can’t shake the slight enthusiasm. Flawless direction, brilliant performances (and I don’t like Denzel too much) and an interesting story (at least for me, I haven’t seen many gangster movies so I can’t compare it within the genre), all combine to deliver a five-star worthy film. And even though I generally prefer films that are half as long, this one didn’t bore me for a second. (2008-07-03)

An excellent, atmospheric gangster movie. Perfect directing from Ridley Scott, excellent acting performances from Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe is further enhanced by an excellent screenplay. And Josh Brolin made a really good impression on me; he’s appearing in better and better roles these days. (2008-03-05)

While most famous directors in this age are making films solely for their own entertainment, Ridley Scott comes up with a work of such incredible awareness and craft that it’s essentially unbelievable. Two and a half hours of the essence of scorching filmmaking that will sweep you away with its unique ode to the time period, perfectly written and superbly acted parts, and, last but not least, the naturalistic violence that a proper gangster cannot do without. Scott extracts the essentials from Scorsese, De Palma, and Mann, but remains incredibly his own, i.e., a self-assured filmmaker with a unique authorial imprint that will be indelibly etched in the viewer's mind forever. There is no point in sparing superlatives here. Believe me, they’ll get Oscars for editing, cinematography, and directing! Edit: The absence (albeit!) of nominations in these categories is the American Film Academy’s greatest crime since the beginning of the new century! Shove the Oscars up your ass! (2007-11-02)