I needed to chill last night so I decided to watch American Gangster....
The Movie
It's highly entertaining, well stylized and the acting was great. Crowe was fantastic. The movie is worth watching just to see how good of an actor Crowe is. To me the most interesting part of this movie, and the part that I think a lot of other movies like it have missed, is that business aspect of the drug trade. As the many South Florida members can tell you on here, the drug trade isn't much different from your standard business. Imports, distribution networks, branding...even trademark infringements, going direct and monopolies are mentioned. This aspect of the movie makes it perhaps one of the more realistic approaches: a cold blooded murderer becomes a cold blooded businessman. This is where I start to have a bit of a problem with the movie, though. I think Frank Lucus was glamorized too much. Denzel Washington is a great actor, but he didn't show the darkness of a character like that well - and I know he is capable of it (hint: Training Day). My friend and I talked a bit about his role in this movie versus his role in Training Day. Obviously they are different stories, but Denzel in Training Day showed how dark Alonzo was... his character was fascinating, but you truly saw the darkness and evil inside of him. This movie, you see Denzel do bad things, you see people overdosing, but you don't see the darkness in Denzel. He's too likable throughout it. In Training Day you like Denzel to start with, and then throughout the movie like him less and less even though you're still fascinated of him.... At the end of this movie, especially in the extended version, you are made to almost like Frank Lucus. I think it is a lot to ask of an audience to smile with Frank Lucus at the end... when two hours earlier you saw him shoot a guy in the head and an hour earlier you saw some baby crying after her mother died from too much smack. You hate the dirty cops more than Frank, which to me are on about the same level of horrible. The supporting cast was a wash of good and bad. I think his wife was a horrible actress, and not the "stunning beauty" the script wanted her to be. RZA, and some of the other gangster figures were pretty good.
The Soundtrack
This is a movie to play loud and proud. The soundtrack is great. Dialog, which is my pet-peeve of film soundtracks, is beautifully mic'd, and the music scenes in the nightclubs are awesome. I can't comment on the surround effects, because I'm a two channel guy still (damn you apartment!).
