American Gangster is unable to bring the Heat.

Ferociously gripping the two and a half hour American Gangster is just that, seemingly all too familiar, lurking in the shadows of ingenious crime epics such as Heat and Scarface which today’s gangster films are so often compared.

Bringing back the 70’s nuance, Director Ridley Scott had no problems getting the film to look and sound authentic.  Packing the soundtrack and wardrobe with funk, soul, big collars and even bigger mustaches, the vibe was definitely flowing.

American Gangster tells the true story of New York drug kingpin Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) who went un-noticed as the body guard and driver of one of Harlem’s leading black crime bosses.  Ruthlessly ambitious, Lucas exploits the availability of drugs during the Vietnam War by transporting back pure heroin in soldiers coffin’s on United States Air Force Cargo planes returning home. Flooding the streets of Harlem with a pure form of heroin, and out pricing the competition, Lucas underbids and outplays the leading crime syndicates and becomes Harlem’s most notorious drug lord.

Enter outcast detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) who begins his quest to solve Manhattan’s drug problem, somehow just by chance stumbling across Lucas’ shady deals as well as his own colleagues in the process.   Roberts a street-smart drug cop in New Jersey, is Lucas’s opposite: He can’t help alienating everyone who crosses his path. His wife wants a divorce, insisting he leads a life entirely unsuitable to the welfare of their only child. Fellow cops shun him from the moment he brings in nearly a million dollars of recovered drug money. No one can understand why he didn’t keep it, which says a lot about the state of policing in the New York/New Jersey area in the 60’s.  Roberts’s major opposition comes from within. New York’s anti-drug task force, the Special Investigations Unit, is rife with corruption. As personified by Detective Trupo (Josh Brolin).

With the bravado and charisma from Training Day, Washington is able to steal the show, placing the viewer in his corner throughout.  Although the film attempts to focus equally on the lives of both characters, Washington breathes more passion; fear and tension into the movie than a meager, soft-spoken almost mouse like Crowe. While Lucas is meant to be portrayed as charismatic and as a legend in the community for his personality and societal donations, Washington is able to captivate the viewer while leaving Crowe to wallow on his dull broken marriage storyline.

Still as the tension builds throughout, so does the hope that Lucas is able to come out on top.  Just a pity that as the film builds towards its conclusion, the finale seems so hurried; even after such a long running time–and that as much as you enjoy the ride, American Gangster never reaches the unforgettable dramatic heights of previous gangster films.   But the movie’s fast pace and plot holes leaves a lot to be desired. This story is too big to be told in two and a half hours, and it shows as the director cuts corners in his mad rush to the film’s anti-climax ending - which I had to ask myself, “is that it?”

The plot keeps these guys apart for nearly the entire movie in a cat-and-mouse chase as Roberts gets closer and closer to arresting Lucas. But when that finally happens, you’ve got Washington and Crowe sitting across from one another at a table trying to outsmart each other.  I was at the edge of my seat (but not for long)!!!  The film concocts a final sequence in which the two finally meet head to head, mono y mono; in the blink of an eye Lucas flips on just about everyone involved in the operation.  Roberts ends up leaving the force to become a lawyer and eventually represents Lucas in some capacity; however none of that is touched on or explained.   I would not pay to see this movie in theaters, wait a few months, save your money and rent it when it comes out on DVD!!!!  Or, enjoy American Gangster on Online Cinema, the real way I enjoy my movies…

Written by: Maddeek (OC Movie Reviewer)