AMERICAN GANGSTER

UNIVERSAL

RELEASED 16 November 2007

You could argue that Sir Ridley Scott has only directed four films in his career to match his talent. ‘Gladiator’ (2000) was a universal hit that, while hardly original, was stylish and hugely entertaining. ‘Thelma and Louise’ (1991) was also a crowd-pleaser. The other two are ‘Alien’ and ‘Blade Runner’. For such a supremely talented director, the likes of ‘A Good Year’ (2006), ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ (2005), and ‘Black Hawk Down’ (2001) just don’t cut it. Scott has the intelligence and visual style to challenge the best, but he doesn’t seem to know a hit from his elbow. But as always with a new Scott film, I sat down to watch ‘American Gangster’ with huge anticipation. Whatever his track record, Sir Ridley gave us ‘Alien’ and ‘Blade Runner’, and the possibility of matching one of those landmark movies remains.

Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) is the driver for one of Harlem’s biggest crime bosses. When he dies, rather than work for someone else again, Lucas decides he’s going to run Harlem his way, and as the Sixties give way to the Seventies, Frank is selling drugs in huge quantities faster than he can import them. And his low-key image on the streets keeps him away from police attention. Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) is a straight cop who’s so straight none of his colleagues trust him. Assigned to run an undercover drugs operation, Roberts gradually inches closer to the Lucas empire and the capture of the leading drug baron in New York.

Washington and Crowe are excellent as always, and the film moves at a swift pace. But there seems to be a few points where we’re missing some details for both men, and I’m sure an extended DVD cut will iron that out. As a result, the characters never seem to evolve as much as they should. Most disappointing of all is the fact that if I didn’t know this was a Ridley Scott before seeing it, I wouldn’t know afterwards either. There seems to be none of his visual flair, and this really could have been directed by anyone.

So once again, a new Ridley Scott film that is certainly entertaining, but no classic.

THREE OUT OF FIVE