The Review: American Gangster

Rating: 9/10 (7 January 2008)

The always brilliant Ridley Scott has given us yet another gem, but not a diamond.
"American Gangster" starts out with a man being burned alive, and it goes well from there. That may sound like a bizarre way to start a review, but what I mean is that it starts very exiting.
The movie delves deep into two parallel stories beautifully woven together , if not slightly overlengthed. Denzel Washington is great as usual, but he is even better as a bad guy. He has that great blend of bad guy and family man, while Russel Crow gives a great (but, not as good as good as Denzel's) performance to counter him.
The film goes great throughout but never builds any emotion in you for the characters, so when emotion is called in for, the film kind of flattens a bit, but the film is still one of the best of the year.
Rating: ***1/2 (of 4)
Entertaining: ***** (of 5)