Top notch gangster picture

Rating: 8/10 (18 November 2007)

In what is possibly the best gangster picture since "Goodfellas," Denzel Washington stars as Frank Lucas, a real life drug lord who reigned over Harlem from the late 1960's to the early 1970's. Lucas rose to prominence when he began buying his supplies directly from a military connection in war torn Vietnam, allowing him to push a "purer" product at a cheaper price than any of his mob competitors. Russell Crowe plays Richie Roberts, an "honest cop" from New Jersey who leads an undercover investigation into the source of all this suddenly abundant street heroin, a search that ultimately leads him to Lucas himself.
As written by Steven Zaillian (derived from an article by Marc Jacobson) and directed by Ridley Scott - two old pros who certainly know how to craft a quality movie - "American Gangster" is an epic tale of crime and punishment that pays due homage to all the classic gangster pictures that have come before it. Americans have always had a love/hate relationship with law breakers and gangsters. Although we may be appalled by their callous indifference to the suffering of others, we can't help but admire their steely-eyed determination and entrepreneurial spirit, as well as their ability to turn the American Dream on its head with impunity (until they're finally caught that is). And Lucas is no exception, for here is the classic figure of gangster mythology - a boy from the streets who rises from obscurity to command his own empire, only to have it crumble before his very eyes when his own hubris and overreaching prove too much even for the gods themselves to countenance. In a strange moral paradox, much as we may like to see gangsters succeed, we also like to see them brought low and given their just desserts - if for no more morally admirable reason that that we envy them. Lucas comes replete with that special cognitive dissonance that all gangsters seem to possess, and which allows them to live two entirely separate and compartmentalized lives, free of the guilt and hypocrisy that keep the rest of us duty-bound and law-abiding. For despite his ferocious temperament, indifference to human suffering, and callow willingness to exploit human tragedy for his own personal gain, Lucas protects his neighborhood, dotes on his mother and family, and loves his wife.
Ironically, Roberts, the cop, has less worth celebrating in his own life - his wife is divorcing him and moving with their son to Las Vegas, his fellow cops don't trust him (for the reason that he ISN'T on the take), and his hopes of becoming a defense attorney may come to naught if he can't conquer his paralyzing fear of public speaking. Yet, Roberts has one thing going for him that Lucas doesn't - he knows the difference between right and wrong, even though he doesn't always act on that knowledge when it comes to his own personal (as opposed to professional) life.
Yet what truly distinguishes "American Gangster" from its recent movie counterparts - more even than the storyline or characterizations - is the tremendous amount of texture Zaillian and Scott bring to the picture. Every scene is filled with intense interactions between characters, intriguing background information (especially the TV reports from Vietnam), and spot-on period details. And even though Washington and Crowe appear together only in the closing moments, their powerhouse performances make the two concurrently running stories feel all of a piece. It should also be noted that, for a gangster picture, "American Gangster" doesn't feel the need to wallow in excessive violence or gratuitous sadism. It is much more concerned with the people involved than with their on-the-job activities.
As with even the best of movies these days, "American Gangster" could use a little trimming in its later stages, where it suffers a bit from distention and attenuation. Moreover, the final scenes feel a trifle implausible and pat despite the fact that they are reportedly based on fact.
Still, these are minor shortcomings in a movie that is firing on all cylinders for most of its running time.