Uncut version - worth the watch

Rating: 8/10 (4 July 2009)

The uncut version is nearly 3 hours long - which makes it about 20 mins longer than the theatre release version. The added scenes are certainly not detrimental to the film - if anything it adds even more depth and character to it. American Gangster is very much similar to Godfather with the difference that this movie is based on a true story. And you might be forgiven to think that this one looks more fictional than most gangster movies. The scams, double crossing, shooting people in the head in the middle of a street in new york, the impotency of the police in front of the obvious, the level of corruption in all spheres of the society and the widespread epidemic of drug abuse in new york, are simply astonishing. The historical aspect is very accurate as well. Ridley Scot does a great job by keeping the balance right - make it frantic and fast paced or follow the melodramatic line of the godfather? He has indeed found the right balance. But what he has achieved more prominently is immerse us into the 60's era of new york. There are a few allusions to the difficulty of a black man toppling the Italian mafia in those days; but I felt that maybe that aspect could have been developed further. This movie is a very very good watch - not lesson in cinema, as who would want to beat the godfathers in gangster movie - but this less fictional movie however is not very far away.