Well made with some very good performances- one of Ridley Scott's best

Rating: 7/10 (23 February 2010)

I don't really have much experience in watching gangster films, but I do with watching Ridley Scott's. As I made clear in my review of Body of Lies I'm not his biggest fan. I didn't like Kingdom of Heaven, and I didn't think that Gladiator or Black Hawk Down were as great as their reputation. American Gangster was completely different. The story was so simple, unlike so many gangster film- a crime lord running a drug empire. And that's partly why I liked it. I thought that Denzel Washington was fantastic, definitely the best I've ever seen him in. I also prefer Russell Crowe in this role as a pose to the character he plays in Gladiator, though I thought he made a better performance in Body of Lies. It was very well made, though it seemed to waste a lot of time setting up the story. The other problem was that Washington was so good that when he wasn't on screen it was really noticed. There was also no real climax, I would have loved to see Washington's character developed even further and I was a little disappointed when he was arrested. What I would have liked to have seen was more on Lucas' empire, more of the fear at which he ruled his employees, though I guess it was restricted by the real-life events. The story did waste time on Roberts' (Crowe's character) life and it was too long as a consequence of this, again I missed Washington. It is well worth seeing though, it is very brutal and realistic, and at times quite scary, yet all the time fascinating. I still preferred Body of Lies though.