American Gangster (2-Disc Unrated Extended Edition) | Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe

American Gangster (2-Disc Unrated Extended Edition) | Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe | American Progress during Vietnam War

DVDs:

American Gangster ...

	American Gangster (2-Disc Unrated Extended Edition) Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe Universal Studios, 2008 average customer review:based on 184 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Academy Award® winners Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe team with director Ridley Scott (Gladiator) for an epic story as powerful as it is true. Armed with ruthless street-wise tactics and a strict sense of honor crime boss Frank Lucas (Washington) rules Harlem's chaotic drug underworld. When outcast cop Richie Roberts (Crowe) sets out to bring down Lucas's multi-million dollar empire it plunges both men into a legendary confrontation. American Gangster is "a brutal and brilliant film" (Pete Hammond Maxim.System Requirements:Running Time: 174 minutes Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/CRIME & CRIMINALS Rating: NR UPC: 025193228024 Manufacturer No: 61032280

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Brutal yes; and well directed

I agree with the brutal expression chosen for describing this movie. It is very hard to wacht. But if you were familiar with 70's cinema(a new form of classics) this is the movie to pay attention to.

Full of what is called intertexts and references, it is produced as many of what I call the "new movies": composed in the form of related spots which are unified but have an unity by themselves. Even very well known actors (as Cuba Gooding, Jr.) protagonizes one of the spots.

I disagree with the view that Russel Crowe do not play his part well. At the contrary, he, a Ridley Scott favorite, shines in some of these spots. It is amazing how this guy, who came from Australia, fitted so well in American movies.

And Denzel, what can be said? he is a bombshell, born to be an actor since the first Spike Lee's movies.

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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.

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"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?

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Riddled With Length by Scott

American Gangster arrived on my doorstep back at the very beginning of March. So here I am approximately 3 months later finally writing my silly little review about it. Why? Why did it take me 3 months to get to a movie that was by some so highly praised?

Why did I view movies like Rambo which was good, Cloverfield which was good, and Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem which was bad the day they arrived at my house from Amazon, only to wait 90 days to watch American Gangster? NO, not because I'm adolescent minded! It's the time....Almost 3 hours for the Unrated/Extended Edition of American Gangster required some time-dedication.

Look, Ridley Scott is a great director, but sometimes I think Hollywood can get a little self-indulgent with the time they take to tell a story. I mean too many movies these days are well over 2 hours. There better be something really compelling to get people to sit for 3 hours, and as I suspected, Amercan Gangster was good, but it didn't need to be 3 hours long.

The story in American Gangster was simple enough: it depicted the life a Frank Lucas played by the always fun to watch Denzel Washington from his rise to power to his inevitable fall. And I say "depicted" as opposed to "documented" because there are disputes as to whether Lucas was actually "the boss" of the Blue Magic empire or if it was really Zach Walker (according to gangster Bumpy Johnson's widow) or if it was really gangster Nicky Barnes (according to some NY area Bronx locals). Walker didn't even get a mention in American Gangster and Barnes (played by Cuba Gooding Jr.) had only a brief appearance.

The action in American Gangster was few and far between, but the story was very well told. However, most of the movie was forgettable. I already remember less about American Gangster than I do about Rambo or Cloverfield. As for Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem?....Let's just say that it would be nice if Ridley Scott got back into the Alien franchise and revived what the last two Alien/Predator directors killed.

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American Gangster

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

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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