American Gangster

You hear that buzzing sound? No, it’s not Bee Movie. It’s Oscar and that sound can be heard loud and clear all through American Gangster. Okay, that sounded better in my head. Let’s just say that come Academy Award time, there will plenty of love shown to American Gangster. Just putting Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe together seems brilliant. (Which is funny, because these two starred in Virtuosity twelve years ago and that one flopped.) But add in director Ridley Scott and you’ve got the makings of a classic American film. While watching the film, I was reminded of The Untouchables, Heat and The Godfather, and that’s not bad company to be around.

Of course, the reason to watch American Gangster is to see the powerhouse performances of two Hollywood heavyweights. While they both are captivating whenever they are on the screen, I think Denzel comes out as the winner. Maybe it’s because Washington’s portrayal of real-life Harlem druglord, Frank Lucas, is so finely tuned. Washington commands the screen every time he is on it. There’s a level of strength, confidence and preciseness that is almost mesmerizing. We know that Denzel can play the bad-ass thanks to Training Day, but here we see a very calm family man with bursts of violent rage. He draws you in before ripping the rug from under you. You can tell that Washington is having fun in this commanding role.

Russell Crowe is no slouch in American Gangster. Well, maybe appearance-wise, but not acting-wise. After 3:10 to Yuma, it appears that Crowe is having a great year. Playing Ritchie Roberts, the dogged cop determined to take down Lucas and subsequent corrupt cops, Crowe has some great speeches throughout the film. Seen as the only truly honest cop on the force, I find myself rooting for Roberts just as much as I’m rooting for Lucas. Crowe has a great disheveled look and makes me glad I never had to wear clothes like that.

Keeping up with Washington and Crowe are some other fine actors. I’m loving the choices of Chiwetel Ejiofor (Serenity, Children of Men). He does a great job as Frank Lucas’ pimped out brother Huey. Josh Brolin is perfectly slimy as corrupt cop, Det. Trupo. I’ll even forgive the writers for making him do the most cliché villainous act near the end of the film. I was most shocked by the performance of Ruby Dee as Mama Lucas. She has this one scene with Washington that screams Oscar nomination.

The writing is pretty crisp in American Gangster. There is some profound advice given throughout the film and almost every word out of Denzel’s mouth is the pinnacle of slickness. Of course, some the best dialogue comes with the long-awaited meeting between Washington and Crowe. Like Pacino and DeNiro in Heat, these two professionals pull out the big guns and hit their scene out of the park. (Sorry, for the mixed metaphor.)

The only thing detracting from this film is its length. Now unlike other films, I do believe they need each minute to tell the full story , but is does get a bit uncomfortable at 157 minutes. Luckily, the big scene is near the end, so I didn’t mind my butt being numb for the sake of great acting. This is one you’re going to want to see on the big screen. People are going to be talking about this one. This is the current front-runner for best picture. Like The Departed last year, American Gangster is the pitch-perfect film with a gritty story and phenomenal performances. There’s that buzzing sound again.