By Anthony Bruno
"American Gangster," the story of real-life drug kingpin, Frank Lucas, is like a heroin high. It feels so good in the beginning, but it brings you down with a crash in the end. Like so many other films about real events, this one comes with the usual disclaimer, "Based on a True Story," which is Hollywood shorthand for "We took a lot of liberties." That's the way it has to be because reality is rarely as dramatic as a film needs to be to capture an audience. But the trouble with "American Gangster" is that its main character is a major drug dealer and a nasty piece of work to boot. Unlike the classic gangster films of the past, he doesn't go down in a blaze of infamy like James Cagney's Cody Jarrett in "White Heat" or get his just deserts like Al Pacino's Tony Montana in "Scarface." He isn't even the noblest scoundrel is a world full of really bad people like Marlon Brando's Don Corleone in "The Godfather." Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) is pretty much the same sociopath at the end of the movie as he was at the beginning. His story has no arc. He just is what he is.
Which is not to say that "American Gangster" is a terrible movie. Director Ridley Scott ("Blade Runner," " Gladiator") and screenwriter Steven Zaillian ("Gangs of New York," " Schindler's List") are unquestionably masters of their craft. The look of the film is reminiscent of the wonderful gritty crime dramas of the '70s, particularly "The French Connection," which raised my hopes that this film would be right up there with them. But "American Gangster" is about a half-hour too long, and it gets bogged down in itself. With its dark hues and nighttime murk, what should have been a fast ride in a pimped-out Coupe DeVille turns into a slog through the mud. Less would have definitely been more in this case.
 |
| Russell Crowe |
The film follows two story lines—actually two and quarter if you count the dirty New York City cop subplot, featuring a bully narcotics detective named Trupo (Josh Brolin). Trupo wears a long black leather overcoat to go with his thick black mustache just to let you know that he's a bad guy in case you get confused. Such confusion could come easily in "American Gangster." The hero is New Jersey narcotics detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe), a disheveled, divorcing average Joe as honest is the day is long. While Frank Lucas builds his drug empire with the help of his country-boy brothers from down South, Roberts puts together an elite team of detectives whose mission is to topple the drug pyramid in the New York metropolitan area from the top—leave the street dealers, target the leadership. But the Roberts plot line seems secondary to Lucas's story, and more than half the movie has gone by before Roberts even knows Lucas exists. Roberts and Lucas aren't even in a scene together until near the end, which should have been the crescendo of the film where the two heavyweight actors finally get to square off. Unfortunately sparks don't fly when Washington and Crowe get down to it.
 |
| American Gangster Movie Poster |
The problem, of course, is that this is a film about a drug dealer, and despite the filmmakers' best efforts, it's hard to feel for a guy who brings so much death and misery to so many people. The filmmakers certainly do their best to make him better than he is. Whenever Lucas is on screen, he seems like the only person in the cast who's taken a shower recently. He's a handsome clotheshorse who largely shuns the pimp styles of the day. He loves his dog, and he worries about thugs not using coasters on fine furniture. But this does not adequately counterbalance his despicable actions—setting a deadbeat on fire, heartlessly shooting a man through the head in front of innocent citizens, importing heroin from Southeast Asia in the most disgraceful way imaginable.
 |
| Frank Lucas |
As portrayed in "American Gangster," Lucas is inconsistent and contradicts his own rules. He repeatedly lectures his underlings to be careful and circumspect, but he shoots a man in broad daylight in front of a crowd of people then stays at the crime scene. What criminal school did he go to? It's hard to believe that this Frank Lucas learned at the feet of legendary Harlem crime boss Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson.
And why did the filmmakers feel the need to resort that tired old cliché of the American Mafia don living like Borgia on a Renaissance-style estate that could easily have been a set in "The DaVinci Code." Don Dominic Cattano (Armand Assante) even invites Lucas, both in tweedy shooting jackets, to do a little skeet shooting. Pull-lease!
Particularly disappointing is the short shrift given to rival drug kingpin Leroy "Nicky" Barnes (Cuba Gooding). The script does not give the man his due. While Lucas was the evil genius of heroin importation, Barnes wrote the book on management in the illegal drug trade. The real Frank Lucas controlled only a section of Harlem; Barnes and his "Council" of drug dealers supplied all five boroughs of New York and beyond.
Next Page
default
increase
decrease
email
print