Tuesday is Bargain Night/$5 at our local cinema and this new movie was packed. Not because of the price but because it's a very good movie from beginning to end. Last weekend's opening made it the #1 film and this week should be another moneymaker. Watch the trailer here:
http://movies.aol.com/movie/american-gangster/19137/main
The movie lasts over two and a half hours and never drags due to Director Ridley Scott's typical visual panache combined with a solid script. His earlier films were more style over substance but not the case here. The surround sound was the best I've heard in a long time and the choices of 60's & 70's funk/soul period music blended well with the dramatics. Denzel Washington's smoldering intensity festering under his cool, controlled facade erupts at times with a chilling effect. One surprising outburst of violence caught the audience offguard. Every scene with him is memorable. He casts a shadow over the film when he's not onscreen. Russell Crowe as the detective tracking him has the less showy part but is equally good in his own way. The film slowly builds to their final and only scenes together at the end and is worth the wait. The rest of the cast does fine work, inclusing a few rappers.
Their world is a gritty, corrupt cesspool of drugs, slums, bad cops, rival gangsters, and dirty money. The American Dream of hard honest work as the road to success has become a nightmare: it's Horatio Alger turned on his head. Family loyalty only serves their sordid aims except for the great Ruby Dee as Denzel's mom whose big moment is saved for near the end when she tries to make him not seek revenge. The movie's title suggests an epic with its fusion of facts, history, and larger than life characters.
Yes facts. Washington's character is based on a real person. Here's an interview with the real Frank Lucas:
http://nymag.com/guides/money/2007/39948/
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