Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Marva-nova Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

GVERover Apart from Denzel Washington all actors are as bad as it could get. I have never seen such a bad cast.

Windgeisel It's one fine solid movie with interesting characters and an interesting story. I was really curious how Ridley Scott would handle such a Bio-History-film. Of cause "1492: Conquest of Paradise" for example, was a good work but I had always some problems with the pacing.To be true, it was the same problem with this movie. Especially at the beginning. Some shots and cuts seemed so hard and unplaced... nearly like he was trying to make a Sci-Fi-Horror. So the build up of the two main characters was a bit rough. And it took some time to get deeper into their story and meaning.But when you get over this and you are still interested in the story, you will get a pretty good movie with many nice twists.From time to time you will get some sweet Déjà-Vu's thinking of "The Godfather" and "Catch Me If You Can".Also you can feel Washingtons and Crowes development as their characters grow with the story. Crowes spiritedly comic-relief character is the perfect counterpoint to Washingtons mostly serious Version of the black godfather of Harlem. It's a joy to watch them when their stories overlap.A big plus are also the well detailed sets and a rousing soundtrack. You get a good idea of the tone of that time.If you like to know more about these days, I recommend to watch "Coonskin". It's a morbid little film about the social chaos in Harlem during the 60's/70's.Peace

Robert J. Maxwell It's kind of messy, the way real life is, but that's okay. It's also okay that it borrows some scenes and themes from "The Godfather" and "The French Connection" too. It's still a well-done original.Russel Crowe is an honest cop in Essex County (Newark), New Jersey. He finds a bag full of money from a dope dealer and turns it in, as he's supposed to, although this violates the police practice of keeping that sort of dough. It earns him snubs at the office.Across the river, In Manhattan, Denzel Washington is a driver and protégé of a big time Harlem heroin dealer. When the dealer dies, Washington take over the business, eliminates the middle men, and charges less money for dope that's far superior. It earns him the enmity of all the other dealers because he's undercutting them. They are not admirers of the unfettered free market, never having read Adam Smith. The NYPD is as crooked as the cops in Newark. Everybody wants a cut.Meanwhile, back in dystopian Newark, a special squad of drug enforcement cops is organized and Crowe is assigned to lead them. Their mission, should they choose to accept it, which they'd better, is to disregard the many junkies and street corner operators and go for the big game. In this case, after much sniffing around, in and out of their jurisdiction, Crowe's elite group finds Washing to be at the head of the organization, more powerful and richer than the Italians or anyone else.Crowe finally busts Washington, earns a law degree, and after prosecuting him in court, defends him and gets him off after only fifteen years. Both men were consultants on the film and both bitched about its inaccuracies.It was considerably better than I'd thought it would be. I mean, look at the title: "American Gangster." Roger Corman would have had a field day with it.Instead, there are several parallel stories interwoven with one another. Washington brings his family from North Carolina to New York and sets them up in his mansion. His mother is Ruby Dee, who was my co-star in the unforgettable mini-series -- umm, er, whatever it was. He attends church with them, says an earnest grace before meals. What kind of a gangster do you call that? There is, of course, a final kinetic shoot out, intercut with scenes of Washington at Sunday church service. Very ironic, as "The Godfather" showed. But you won't find too much gore in the movie. There are murders and suicides on the screen but the camera lens isn't splashed with blood.Both Washington and Crowe deliver decent performances, as does the supporting cast. No one stands out. They're all professionals. This isn't a masterpiece, it's not gripping like, say, "Prince of the City," but it's a neatly done genre piece that's worth catching.

SlyGuy21 Disclaimer: if you have a fear of needles, avoid this movie. I don't believe I do, like you could show me a needle and I'll be OK, but if I see that needle in someone's arm, I come close to having a severe panic attack. So of course, having never seen this movie before, I didn't know it would show people shooting up heroin. After the second scene of people doing this, I almost turned the movie off, but I persevered. I'd also like to state that I've never walked out of a movie, and I've been watching them for 17 years. The main reason I decided to stick with this, is because I could tell that there was a good story here. I mean, you have Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, and it's directed by Ridley Scott. How could that be bad? Thankfully, I was right. The acting is well done, not either man's best performance, but they do a great job. You get a great look into the drug trade at the time and how people were able to set up empires on the addictions of others. The characters are easy to connect with, even the drug kingpins are somehow likable. If you can stomach the needles and injections, you'll probably like this movie. It's not as good as "Goodfellas" or "Casino" to me, but I'd say it's at most in the "Top 10 Mob Movies I've Seen".