American Gangster (2007)

Don't mess with Denzel

Great gangster movie. A nice departure from usual organized crime films about italian families or the modern day rap star gang bangers. Denzel Washington is a fabulous actor. He consumes the leading role of Frank Lucas, a man from Carolina that is tutored under a crime boss in Harlem for 15 years. After his mentor passes away, he fights to maintain the "kingdom" that was established. He revolutionizes the way that his "type" of business is conducted. Being a true story, I'm glad they didn't only glamourize the gangster lifestyle. They show the way that the drug trade affects the everyday people, including showing junkies passed out on filthy floors while Frank and his family eat Thanksgiving dinner. There's a certain morality to the story once you reach the end of the film. I've loved every movie I've seen where Washington plays the heel. July 1, 2008

Very good, but not great

Very strong acting and directing. But this movie is way too long and it lacks that extra something that makes a film great. So I highly recommend it, but don't expect a film that compares with The Godfather, Godfather II, or Good Fellas. June 23, 2008

American Progress during Vietnam War

Film based on the real character, black gangster from NYC area who was distributing Blue Magic drug in late 60s and early 70s. It is a story of a man driven to succeed in the only trade he knew, at any price. He uses Italian Mafia tactics and employs his immediate family and cousins to help him with distribution. The genius of his channel distribution is that he has arranged for drug delivery via MP transport between military bases on the US east coast and Vietnam where the war was fought. As he pushes competition away with his superior products and takes away cut from the middle man that happens to be NYC Special Investigation Unit, he starts building enemies, slowly but surely. The moral of the story is that this man, Frank Lucas, no matter how ruthless is the picture perfect of the American Dream. He works hard, he is driven and dermined and has his goal. He becomes someone that white people have to recon with. But at the end, his empire is like a house of cards where he takes NYC police department, his family and himself down to the dungeons. His wealth and success are not saving him from the justice system where he spends 15 years of his life before he can be free again. Wonderful cast and a great story. Many of the support actors are from HBOs shows like "Deadwood" and "Wire", they look worn out, raw and full of supressed anger - fantastic characters. Great movie. June 18, 2008

American Gangster

Dissappoited. Speaking to softly,picture too dark. I slept through last 30 minutes and don't feel like I missed a thing. June 17, 2008

"You can quit while you're ahead. Or just quit."

As I read these reviews, there's a healthy diversity of opinion, which, there generally seems less of on Amazon than there ought to be. I feel the reason is that if you dare to give negative reviews, the fans of the item will dump on negative responses, and, of course, many want the approval ratings. Perhaps, Amazon should adjust their ranking methods.

Now the review: I feel this flick is good, not great. *** 1/2.
What I liked best was the historical sweep. Although, I was aware that heroin was coming out of Nam in body-bags, like a blizzard, and that the inner city dope trade was booming, the fim graphically puts the pieces together in such a way, that one must understand that the brutal continuation of these wars has something to do with the hundreds of thousands that are employed by it, as one of the characters points out. I say 'wars' because the largest producer of hard drugs today is Afganistan. I really appreciated that insight, although of course, there are many other killings spawned by that evil racket, war. As far as the historical accuracy - I hear that Frank Lucas said only about 20% was true. Otherwise, I felt that the screenwriters were up against the wall with too much material and too many characters to develop in this venue - it would have made a much better mini-series, at least six hours of material here - even a full season. For this reason, the script was compromised, choppy, compressed, and full of cliches - whether it was done before in Serpico, Shaft, or elsewhere, the film hardly displayed the kind of character development we see in the Godfather, Once Upon A Time in America, Casino, or the smooth interplay between story, character, and hard-hitting violence we see in L.A. Confidential (that forgotten, underrated Crowe performance). On that note, there's no substitute for good, old-fashioned violence in a gangster film. In this one - I felt like I'd been to a very fine restaurant with skimpy portions. Let's see some skull and brains splattered on the sidewalk in AG2, yuh?
June 9, 2008

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