American Gangster Extended Edition [2007] - Universal Pictures UK

Wow!

Simply outstanding film. Brilliantly acted, not only by Denzel Washington and Russel Crowe, but some excellent support, particualry in Josh Brolin. An amazing story, a real must for any film fan.

Over Hyped and Terrible

For those expecting a film in the Mafia footprints of Goodfellas, Casino and The Godfather trilogy prepare to be bitterly disappointed. A disjointed film with poor character development, stilted dialogue and unbelievable manufactured plots. For example how does Lucas have Army connections in Vietnam who are happy to ship huge amounts of heroin without any questions or visible financial inducements? How can he just call up these contacts at the drop of a hat from a phonebooth without any reference to the time differences? These silly scenes just add to the overall mish mash quality of the film. Add to this overly dark cinematography and hard to hear dialogue, that needs constant adjustment to the volume and brightness and that leads to heavier and heavier use of the rewind button to actually grasp what is being said.

Ridley Scott - go and have a lie down and wonder where it all went wrong.........

american gangster- rubbish

I got this video via a recommendation, was disappointed, thought it was very slow, and only started to get interesting about half an hour before the end, to sum it up a load of rubbish,only consolation, i got it for a fiver from amazon, and didnt pay full price.

The Heat In Harlem

Based on the true story of Frank Lucas this rise-and-fall movie suffers from following a formula that we think of as fictional. But truth is not stranger than, it is pretty much exactly the same as, fiction.

Our hero, the driver of a dead Harlem gangster, finds an ingenious way to exploit the Vietnam War to import better quality drugs cheaper. Samuel Smiles would have been proud of him. He then uses his family to run the business as if North Carolina was a province of the mezzogiorno. He deals with crooked cops and fellow gangsters in one of two ways; he makes a deal or he clips them. Behind the scenes is Russell Crowe the incorruptible ex-cop and now a fed who works to bring down Frank.

So far it sounds like Serpico meets The French Connection and The Godfather, and one wonders how much these fictional treatments were affected by the real events portrayed in this film. The result is a competent gritty crime film but one that yields few surprises.

Solid entertainment

American Gangster is a solid piece of entertainment featuring two standout performances from Washington and Crowe who are well supported by an ensemble of fine character actors. Incidental music, costumes and sets effectively recreate the New York of the 1970s, a time of Vietnam, racial tension and police corruption.

It may not stand comparison with the very best examples of the genre, but can certainly hold its own against recent crime flicks such as The Departed.

Definitely worth a watch to see the two lead actors breathing life into two rather clichéd characters (Crowe's world-weary cop and Washington's ruthless drug baron) but you might want to try it out as a rental before buying.