Gangster Good Not Great

Rating: 7/10 (18 November 2007)

Ridley Scott never fails when it comes to the action genre. Furthermore, how can you go wrong when you pair two of the best actors of our time, Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, on the same screen. The violence in this film is what makes it captivating and memorable. In many ways its reminiscent of Goodfellas in that regard. However, unlike that film it does not score the unquestionable home run the cast and pre-release hype inarguably suggested it would. This is a film definitely worth seeing on the big screen. A valuable piece of cinema, but not one that blew me away in the manner I had hoped for. I had similar feelings for The Departed and we see how successful that film was, so this may be a better review than I had actually intended. On a side note, it was nice to see Cuba Gooding Jr. removed from the litany of Disney instant classics he seemed obsessed with over the last few years and back in the type of quality film worthy of an academy award winner. Let me hear your thoughts at www.urbandementia.blogspot.com.