Mediocre

Rating: 5/10 (16 January 2009)

I am afraid I am borrowing views expressed in some of the other crits: This film borrows extensively from classics as The Godfather, The French Connection, Scarface and even Apocalypse Now but it comes nowhere near any of them. The acting is not bad but I have a problem with the development of the central character, Frank Lucas. He appears to have some principles but quickly embarks on the narcotics trade, cares not who else it might affect, and does not think twice about executing a competitor in public. Lucas kissing his brother on the mouth and later beating him up smacked of The Godfather Part II relationship between Pacino and Cazale but it did not come across anywhere near as viscerally. In the end, just so that he does not spend the rest of his life in jail he is willing and reptilian enough to turn in all those that he bribed and that served him. Perhaps his flaws are only human but I care more for a mad bugger like Tony Montana in Scarface than for this cold-hearted kingpin that uses national institutions such as the US Army for personal gain and should face high treason but instead skulks away with a reduced jail term as if that were ennobling and worthy of 157 minutes of film. Russell Crowe comes across more credibly as a copper who places job before family but real life has its ironies and I did not think a honest man like him would become a defense lawyer whose first client would be... Frank Lucas. Ridley Scott's direction lacks verve and inventiveness and it rambles here and there, especially when Lucas' family comes into the picture. The period detail is adequate though I have seen better. The cinematography is of tolerable quality (I have watched more polished TV productions). Finally, the screenplay is a patchwork of clichés I would not have wanted my name associated with. This is a big production movie with big stars to match with the aim of doing well at the box office, and I am sorry I paid hard earned money for this product thereby indirectly helping maintain this industry that treats spectators like so many sheep. American Gangster is mediocre film-making, its moral values are dire, and the lesson I gleaned was an old one: As long as you have money and connections you can get away with murder. I doubt that knowledge makes me a better man but it sure as hell renders me fitter for survival. Is that what I want out of life, though? NO!