Good, but...

Rating: 7/10 (16 November 2007)

"American Gangster" is an okay mob movie. Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington hand in solid performances (as expected), and Ridley Scott directs the story tastefully, although it could have used a bit more drive. You find yourself looking at your watch a couple of times. Where Scorsese and even De Palma have directed overlong gangster movies that keep you on the edge of your seat from the first minute to the last, Scott made this one as unagitated as most of his great movies ("Alien", "Blade Runner", "Gladiatior") - and apparently people like him for it, so maybe it's just me who's got a problem with that.
Personally, I didn't feel connected enough. The main characters don't ever meet each other until the very end and then it's over way too quickly. Especially, Denzel Washington's change of ambition seems rushed there and the ending is more than a bit reminiscent of "GoodFellas".
Actually, this problems plagues the whole movie. We've seen it all before somewhere else: The tense job an unbribable cop has to do in a corrupt environment ("Serpico"), the schizophrenic life of a gangster who is a loving family man in one minute and a brutal killer with no qualms in the next ("The Godfather"), the glamorous rise and fall of a gangster boss ("Scarface"). Sure, these things never really gets old, but they have become a bit trite nonetheless.
As a depiction of life and crime in the 60's and 70's, this year's "Zodiac" was the more entertaining movie. "American Gangster" is still well worth seeing, but not among the highlights of 2007.