That pretty much sums up my thoughts as well. I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting, but the film seemed to lack emotional depth. I thought both Crowe and Washington were great, but I didn't care too much for their characters or for anyone else in the film except for Lucas' mother and wife. It's a very good film, but it's just kind of standard.

B+

B+/A-


Yeah, after having seen this, I can see why it's not making so much noise during this year's awards race. I mean, it IS a good movie, but it had the potential to be better and ends up being "just good". It's simply the standard for this kind of a film, elevated by some great performances, but on the whole, it doesn't amaze like, say, The Departed.

One thing that surprised me was that the film was much rather in the vein of Lord of War and Blow than of The Departed. It's obviously more of a biopic thing. I'd put it on around the same level as Lord of War and a tad below Blow. Its running time didn't bother me at all, as I was intrigued by the proceedings throughout the film and the performances carried it. Denzel Washington is expectedly good, but honestly, I'd say that I liked Russell Crowe's performance just as much and he was just as much the lead of the movie as Washington was. Crowe's turn is more low-key, more understated...and more real. Man, he's had a really great year with this and 3:10 to Yuma. Too bad he's not getting enough awards attention for these! I liked how the storylines of Crowe's character and of Frank Lucas kept developing parallelly with opposing the characters constantly. Their final face-off is good, especially when at the end you feel a slight touch of friendship developing between the two.

Speaking of the supporting actors, Josh Brolin did a decent, though generic bad guy here and Ruby Dee had a really good scene with Washington when she stops him from going to kill the guy who attacked him. But is it enough to warrant a SAG nom? I doubt that.

On the technical level it's alright with some nice cinematography and editing, but really nothing outstanding. I think in some parts, the movie proceeds just too fast as I barely got a taste of how Lucas finaly rose to his throne and then fell. The time period in which he reigned just seemd so short! It was like: Okay, he rose up and came out big and then, the next second, it all comes crashing down for him.

Overall, I think the movie did a solid portrayal of its time period and of Harlem during that time. I think amyn things could have been fixed in this film and I could have been better if it sometimes didn't try too hard to encompass so many things into itself (think the scenes of the junkies shooting up heroin, obviously to show the poor state of Harlem in that time). Some more suspense could have done the film good. To call this generic comes across too negatively, as it is generic in a sense that it's just what you'd expect from a good director like Scott and elevated by great lead performances...but it just doesn't stun and amaze like it could have. This is just not another big American Crime Epic, but it also is a pretty good movie which should have garnered more attention in the awards race for its leads.

I have yet to see the movie, but "Do You Feel Me" from the soundtrack is a fucking good song. Hope it gets some Oscar love.

this hasn't aged too well with me. Considering the talent involved, this could have and should have been a lot better. I still really liked that ending, though, and Russell Crowe was terrific [and Denzel was Denzel].

I've lowered my grade to a B / B+

7/10 -> B-

Where to start. When I look at the grade it seems low. But when I look at the movie I can't give it more. But still I feel like I or the movie is missing something and it bothers me. The first half of the movie is decent at best. The montage and the way the story unfolded was awful. A little bit of fast forward to the future, a little bit of music montages, a little bit of simbolic scenes that are deepening the motives of the two main characters... It was a mish-mashy way to set up the background of the cop and the mob. Maybe they tried to use all the possible way to keep the viewers interested because that setting up took way too long.

But once that was done, the movie was superb. Possibly on of the best mob/cops catshing the mob and corrupted people movies ever made. Too bad that's only the second half.

I like Crowe way much more than Denzel. Denzel is so overrated.

This is basically a paint-by-numbers crime drama, and I didn't like it much at all. Not only is it just repeating themes and storylines that have been done ad nauseum in older, better films, but it brings absolutely nothing new to the table. The characters are all very conventional, unsurprising, and totally bland. Any attempt to add depth into these one-dimensional, shadowy figures comes across as very obvious and totally disingenuous. Crowe's character is occasionally interesting, but he soon reverts to the "womanizing boy scout" that is too natural, and, thus, not natural at all. Denzel is just playing Denzel, there's no hint of danger or hostility in his performance, even when he's performing criminal acts. You get the sense that he could stop selling drugs and coach a football team. The dialogue is all very obvious and to-the-point, the sets and costumes are loud and garish and, again, far too obvious, and the direction is uninspired and largely unremarkable. It's a solidly made, but thoroughly mediocre mob tale.

While I agree with almost all in you're review, I disagree about Denzel. I thought he was great and very intimidating.

No GoodfeLLas here, but stiLL watchabLe enough. The very good Last 30 mins. of it incLuding the "Amazing Grace" scene made it up for the sLow pacing and IMO, too much taLking for the most of it. DenzeL Washington edges out RusseLL Crowe though both of them did remarkabLe, and the ending and how Frank Lucas' character turned out was fortunateLy something I didn't expect. One random minor compLaint (forgive me for making a big deaL out of it), were the anachronisms in the fiLm: I saw Like 2 or 3 modern cars throughout and post-1970s buiLdings were visibLe when the Manhattan skyLine was shown.

B+

This has been out for a few weeks but im yet to see it. The lukewarm reviews here and the long running time have put me off a bit. Will try and see it though.

Very good performances from Denzel and Russell. An interesting film as well but a bit too long.

B

Fantastic film with amazing performances. Washington and Crowe own this and the pacing is smooth and it never gets boring.

A

watched it a 3rd time with a couple of my frat brothers.

Still give it an A-

um, well I watched Godfather part 2 before it so I really was biased against the film.

Like you had the best mob film ever and then you watch this. You know you set your bars high.

I found the film to not have any heartbreaking, or wicked scenes or any amazing scenes like you see in Goodfellas and Godfather. Like you never see a point in the film that comes close to the scene of where Micheal tells Fredo "you broke my heart".

Imo scenes like that made those kinds of films so great is what I find to be missing in American Gangster or in the Departed. None of those super cool moments or any of those great dramatical moments. It was a good story but could have been much better.

A-.

Finally watched this last night and perhaps with my lowered expectations I liked it more than I expected. I agree that it reminded me of Lord of War and Blow - but to me thats a good thing as I enjoyed both of those films. The story was engaging and I never felt bored. Both leads were strong - but like others there did seem to be something that kept it from being "Great". Its still "very good" at worst.

Grade: A/A-

Agreed. Both the leads were great, and Scott made a lot of great choices, but at the end of the day it isn't really that memorable or innovative.

B+

Amen, brother! Until you resurrected this thread, this movie that had been hailed as a huge event less than year ago had completely slipped from my memory...

I lower my A- to a B

I cannot belive people think this one of the best mob films ever, because IMO if you do think that, you haven't seen mob films at all.

Departed, Goodfellas, Untouchables, The orginal Scareface, James Cagney mob films and of course the Godfather series are miles ahead of this film.

The movie had a great storyline and all but the ending was underwhelming and you felt no sympathy or admiration for anybody. You just had this story of a bunch of harsh criminals doing there thing and being caught. There was nothing to really respect at all.

The film tries to capture the glory of past mob films but fails and it does not have anything unique that would make it stand for the test of time.


If you think this good, go watch some other mob films or something with James Cagney.

Overated...

B

8.5/10

Very good movie but just not good enough to become one of the classic gangster movies.