Friday, August 14, 2009

American Gangster

American Gangster by Ridley Scott is a toneless, directionless 3 hour mess. It follows a gangster from America named Frank Lucas who becomes rich by controlling heroin in NYC, and also this one cop named Russel Crowe who is trying to stop him. I mean, all of the actors are fine, but I never cared about anybody, and the movie didn't even know if it wanted to be a shitty Serpico, a shitty Godfather, a shitty Clockers, or a shitty Heat. Also at the end SPOILERS it becomes like a shitty Odd Couple when Frank Lucas and Detective Russel Crowe become best friends and share insightful looks about how much rap music sucks or something 15 years later.

RATING: 41%

10 comments:

  1. this movie sounds bad but its 31% better then the first 15 min. of mamma mie c/d?

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  2. Training Day is a million times better than this claptrap.

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  3. Now that you put it that way I guess I can see your point.

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  4. I liked Ethan Hawke's performance in Training Day much more than Denzel Washington's, yet who got nominated for and won all of the awards?

    I didn't mind American Gangster. I still haven't watched the "director's cut". (Why can't Ridley Scott EVER seem to get a movie made his way the first time around? How many fucking versions of Blade Runner ARE there now?) I started with the theatrical version and I was fine with it. It was interesting and entertaining enough for me, but certainly shouldn't be on anbody's 10 best list. I wouldn't go so far as to call it shitty, but it's certainly not nearly as good as Serpico, Godfather, Clockers, and Heat (good comparisons, Glenn). Bottom line: I liked it better than Ridley Scott's Gladiator, Matchstick Men, G.I. Jane, 1492: Conquest of Paradise, and WAY better than Hannibal.

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