A strange but effective mix of "movie gangster epic" and The Wire which produces more strengths than weaknesses (but does produce both)

Rating: Null/10 (28 November 2007)

Having spent over a decade as Bumpy Johnson's driver, Frank Lucas looks to step up into the gap following his death. Looking to avoid the glitz and publicity of his peers, Lucas makes a connection in the Far East after seeing a news article on the abundance of drugs and its impact on US soldiers. Using military aircraft to transport the goods, Lucas enlists his family and trusted associates to put a cheaper but higher quality product onto the streets, quickly dominating the market  his low profile meaning he avoids the traps of dirty cops and investigations. Meanwhile clean, but deeply unpopular cop Richie Roberts is allowed to put together a small unit to look into the source of the new wave of drugs.
I do like my crime dramas and it seemed obvious to me that I would enjoy American Gangster given the calibre of people involved in it and, watching it last night, I must say that I did find it a satisfying and enjoyable film. The pace is comparatively slow but yet the story comes over as packed  not busy to the point of being hustle and bustle but more just constantly engaging and interesting. Based on a true story, the film seems in no particular rush and I did respect this in the delivery as it allowed me room to be involved in the telling rather than it trying to constantly hold my attention with action or loud noises. Of course some viewers will feel the absence of these stimuli more than I did but for me it worked.
I was surprised by how uncinematic it felt though. Considering the sweep and scale of the last Crowe/Scott film (Gladiator), American Gangster is remarkably absent of visual flair. As other reviewers have commented it did have the feel of an episode of The Wire in how "matter of fact" it was. Of course to me there can be no higher compliment than being compared to that HBO series and personally I had no problem with this approach despite it feeling a little odd on a large screen. The cast fill that same screen though and the film is deep in names all giving solid performances or better. Washington plays his character out well while Crowe contrasts with him nicely in individual and shared scenes. Neither has a lot in the way of character development beyond the obvious but the overall approach of the film made this less important than it otherwise would have been. Supporting these two are too many people to discuss within IMDb's word limit. Ejiofor, Brolin, Levine, Common, RZA, Gooding Jr, Assante, TI, Morton and of course The Wire's own Elba all turn in supporting roles among other faces; although it should be said that anyone enamoured with Elba's Stringer Bell as I am will be disappointed with his smaller, simpler character here. If anything the cast is almost too deep as it did distract at times to be constantly thinking "that's the guy from etc" but in terms of quality it is hard to really complaint.
As I said I had no real problem with Scott's visual style and restrained "factual" delivery but in a way it could have done with learning some lessons from Scorsese. By this I specifically mean the use of music. The tracks are all great but they are not so much "used" as they are "played". Goodfellas is a great example of how to use music and somehow this film just did even try to compare  indeed even choosing some tracks that were only ever going to put the viewer in mind of another film (eg Across 110th Street from Jackie Brown). All told though I did appreciate the gritty and unflashy approach of the film as it did suit the manner of the telling.
So a strange but effective mix then. In a way it carries itself like a classic gangster tale suggesting that it sits up there with Godfather and Goodfellas. But then in other ways it channels The Wire's "matter of fact" and unflashy style to deliver an engaging and convincing story that is well delivered by all. Somehow the mix works for the greater good even if it also produces some downsides to both. Not the perfect classic that some reviews would have you believe but certainly a solid and roundly strong product that is worth seeing for many reasons.