American Gangster

So while I am continuing to knock the dust off of my blog, I will stay in the shallow end. So a movie review.

So Stephanie and I saw American Gangster today. This is a movie I have been wanting to see for a while. Mostly because of Denzel Washington. He's about as powerful an actor as there is, and I'm a big fan. Secondly, I like movies with 2 strong characters on opposing sides. Heat comes to mind historically, and more recently 3:10 to Yuma. And speaking of Russell Crowe, here is a guy making a big come back for me. LA Confidential, The Insider, Gladiator. Loved him, but after that, he just seemed to disappear. But, I'm ready to love him again.

Simply put, this is a very good movie. Unlike the other movies I mentioned, these two characters don't really meet until the end. Not just that they don't meet, but don't know about each other. Washington is the criminal, but doesn't know he is being chased until he is caught. Crowe is the cop who is chasing someone, but doesn't know who it is until nearly the end of the chase. On the surface, this might not be good. We don't get the Cat and Mouse aspect of Dinero and Pacino in Heat. We don't get the Battle of Wills of Crowe and Bale in 3:10. So what does that leave us with? It leaves us with 2 separate movies on a collision course with one another.

I'm not sure if thats good or not, and maybe thats what keeps this movie from being Great. Everything around that however is superb. The drugs, the violence, the action, its awesome. Flying to Vietnam. The undercover cops, corruption. Its all so complex and sophisticated. Its an incredibly textured film and it has some tragedy on a few different levels.

I want this to be a really Great movie and it just doesn't quite go the distance for me. It lacks a certain thing. I don't quite know what to say. The difference between a Hall of Famer and one of the best ever. Some movies just go that extra mile, they add that extra unexpected layer or quality. This one is amazing, but never quite gets to that top level.

Its an A though.

Tom's rating 84