Very Good But Nothing New

Rating: 8/10 (1 December 2007)

I found American Gangster to be an enjoyable film, it was very well acted across the board (but with a cast including Denzel,Russel Crowe and Cuba Gooding Jr you really don't expect anything less.
However I found that American Gangster really didn't add anything new to the Genre, and although it was equally well directed and acted it seemed to be trying to be the Departed and did not try to add anything to give the film it's own style.
One major plus note for this film is actually seeing Cuba Gooding Jr getting a decent acting role again (after whoring himself off in rubbish family tripe for years on end). The man is a brilliant actor and hopefully American Gangster will see him actually use his considerable talent.
All in all a very good film but it's lack of ingenuity stops it from getting a higher mark.