Dead Movie Walking

Rating: 4/10 (3 November 2007)

Ridley Scott makes an awful lot of noise in his well heeled films and says very little. American Gangster is no exception. This glossy and slick looking tale about a Harlem drug kingpin and the cop that brought his empire down is a slow moving, disjointed and suspenseless two and a half hour bore. Even though the film primarily focuses on its two main characters they never really develop much from the first reel. Gangster Denzel Washington moves Sphinx like throughout the film. Looking like he stepped off the cover of GQ, his handsome sinister look never really takes off and when he does go into an occasional rage, it is unconvincing and inconsistent to a character that sleep walks through most of the film. The opening scene immediately establishes the savagery Lucas is willing to administer to maintain power but then the rest of the film is spent attempting to sanitize him.
Russell Crowe, a lot more animated, is terrible as well but for different reasons. Once again he is the working class stiff super hero who can do no wrong as he maintains a squeaky clean honesty throughout, refusing bribes, turning in partners and bucking a law enforcement system that seems to be totally corrupt. In addition he is working his way through law school which will give him added superpowers in the films epilogue and of course he manages to screw hot chicks, display his tough guy and sensitive side and on more than one occasion step in to save the day. His only flaw seems to be his lack of fatherly attention to his son. However even this is assuaged when his wife goes into a tirade about his poor parenting skills but is quickly mollified by his martyr like explanation. A sense of shame comes across her face. Even though her outburst is justified it's hard to hate this gruff but lovable shaggy dog, the most honest man in all of New York.
While too much time is wasted on Detective Roberts story it does enable director Scott to juxtapose heavy handed irony all over the place. On Thanksgiving, straight arrow Roberts sits home in a cluttered apartment having a sandwich of dry turkey and potato chips. Meanwhile at the Lucas mansion Scott creates a wonderful mise en scene that evokes a Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post cover. He likes it so much that he replicates it later in the film. Much of the film is overkill with repeated montages of violence and intravenous drug use. Scott shows a real nostalgia (along with the requisite cheap shot Hollywood interpretation of a racist, antisemitic, incompetent portrayal of government officials) for the Seventies but it never gets below the surface. It is all gloss and pose and lacks the passion and realism of the excellent 70's cop films, The French Connection and Serpico which it attempts to imitate.
National treasure Ruby Dee is treated just like one and her performance as Frank's mother reflects it. It is one of many failed opportunities by Scott to flesh out Lucas as a man through his relationships with family and friends. The one with his wife is nearly invisible. Her major contribution to the film is getting the reserved Lucas to dress up like Super Fly. Josh Brolin's corrupt Detective Trupo is the film's only bright spot. He portrays a fierceness and intensity far more convincing than anything else in this entire film. American Gangster deserves the death penalty.