American Gangster

Based on a true story, American Gangster casts Denzel Washington as Frank Lucas – a savvy drug kingpin who eventually finds himself being pursued by a tenacious cop named Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe). At a running time of over 150 minutes, American Gangster generally possesses the feel of a rough cut that’s in dire need of trimming – as evidenced by the presence of countless subplots and supporting characters (with the majority of both coming off as entirely superfluous). There’s little doubt, however, that the film’s most egregious failing is in its emphasis on Crowe’s staggeringly needless character. While Crowe  delivers as compelling a performance as one might’ve expected, Richie spends much of the film’s first half embroiled in a series of increasingly pointless situations (including a child-custody battle with his expectedly irate ex-wife). In fact, Richie doesn’t even learn of Frank’s existence until the halfway mark (!) – ensuring that much of Crowe’s screen time up until then feels like nothing more than filler. It gets to the point where the only thing holding the viewer’s interest is the almost relentless stream of familiar faces in supporting roles, with character actors like Joe Morton, Jon Polito, and Armand Assante popping up for a few minutes at a time. Steven Zaillian’s surprisingly choppy screenplay ensures that there’s virtually no flow to the proceedings, and there’s consequently no denying that the scripter’s efforts at infusing the movie with an epic sensibility fall completely flat. Even the film’s visuals manage to disappoint, as director Ridley Scott infuses American Gangster with an underwhelming and downright bland sensibility that hardly manages to evoke ’70s era New York City (which, given the presence of ace cinematographer Harris Savides, is clearly no small feat). Scott’s inability to effectively pace this bloated story proves to be the movie’s most insurmountable obstacle, however, and – in spite of Washington’s admittedly riveting turn – American Gangster ultimately comes off as just the latest disappointment from an increasingly irrelevant filmmaker.

** out of ****