During the 1980s and 90s, Ridley Scott directed (according to IMDB) only four films per decade, among them Blade Runner and Thelma and Louise. But starting in 2000 with his Oscar-winning epic Gladiator, Scott has literally churned out one flick a year, with 2004 being the exception. What makes that feat even more impressive is that with the exception of the forgettable duo of Matchstick Men and A Good Year, none of these movies were tiny independent productions. His throwback to the gritty crime thrillers of the 1970s, American Gangster, is no exception. Epic in scope and length, Gangster strives to be in the same league as The Godfather, The French Connection and even Brian DePalma’s remake of Scarface.
Based loosely on real-life drug kingpin Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), Gangster chronicles the man’s pursuit of the American Dream through his rise and reign in the Harlem’s criminal underworld. When we first meet Lucas, he is the quiet driver to one of the inner city’s leading black crime bosses (Clarence Williams III). But when his boss suddenly dies, Frank exploits the opening in the power structure to build his own empire through ingenuity and a strict business ethic. Lucas comes to rule the inner-city drug trade, flooding the streets with a purer product at a better price.
Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) is an outcast New York City detective who is close enough to the streets to feel a shift of control in the drug underworld. Roberts believes someone is climbing the rungs above the known Mafia families and starts to suspect that a black power player has come from nowhere to dominate the scene. Both Lucas and Roberts share a rigorous ethical code that sets them apart from their own colleagues, making them lone figures on opposite sides of the law and on a collision course for each other.
American Gangster is exactly what you would expect from a Ridley Scott film: technically proficient, well-acted and assuredly directed. Yet when all is said and done, it’s not very involving or particularly memorable. One certainly can’t fault leads Washington and Crowe. Washington displays the type of understated, quiet intensity reminiscent of Al Pacino’s work in the Godfather films, even getting the viewer to empathize –but not sympathize- with a drug kingpin, while Crowe, in possession of the less showy role, gives Roberts just enough conviction needed to buy into character’s dogged determination to bring Lucas to justice.
It is also not really the fault of Scott, who keeps the film’s events moving along at a solid pace. The fault lies in the screenplay, credited to Schindler’s List scribe Steven Zallian. The film’s plot certainly is a fascinating one, but the way it is presented in Zallian’s script is a bit on the formulaic side. In attempting to adequately fit examinations of both Roberts and Lucas’ pursuit of the American Dream as well as their private lives, the screenplay becomes uneven. By no means is Zallian’s screenplay bad, but it takes a compelling story and characters, runs them through the cliché cycle and winds up helping make the film good, but far from great.
There are two cuts of American Gangster presented on Blu-ray: the 157-minute theatrical cut and an extended “unrated” cut that runs 176 minutes. I prefer the extended cut more than the theatrical. I’m not exactly sure what was added to the film for the extended cut, aside from a tacked-on conclusion (for me, the endings on both cuts were far too TV-esque for my liking), but I do feel that the longer cut has more breathing room for the characters and story than the theatrical cut and is therefore the recommended cut.
This is American Gangster’s second appearance on the next-gen DVD format following an HD DVD combo (remember those?) back in March of this year. From what I had read, the picture and audio quality were fair at best for the HD version of the theatrical cut, but better than the extended cut which was housed on the standard-definition side. Worse, the HD DVD combo was missing supplements that were available on the regular DVD editions. For fans of the movie that had HD DVD, they paid more and got less.
The Blu-ray release rectifies many of the HD DVD release’s issues, starting with 1080p/VC-1 encodes of both the 158-minute theatrical cut and the 175-minute extended cut. I remember the theatrical print that I saw was a bit on the drab side, reminiscent of the crime thrillers of the 1970s. The transfers on the Blu-ray faithfully replicate that look, which makes for a decent if unspectacular high-def viewing experience. Black levels are solid and every so often and the image displays a nice sharpness and impressive colors. Every so often, though, contrast levels appear to be a bit off and give the image a touch of flatness. I noticed no issues of edge enhancement, compression artifacts or video noise.
Both cuts are given a really nice 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track, one that makes good use of all available audio channels. Dialogue is clear as a bell, as are the music and sound effects that come from the left and right front and surround channels. Bass isn’t as active as the surrounds but it is put to good use when called upon.
If you were one of the people who had purchased the HD DVD of American Gangster and felt that Universal dropped the ball on the supplements in contrast to the three-disc DVD that came out at the same time, well you were right. All is fixed now with the Blu-ray which carries everything over from the DVD special edition. Well, almost everything is fixed now: all of the extras are in 480p standard definition.
On the theatrical cut only is a Feature-Length Audio Commentary by Ridley Scott and Steve Zallian. Recorded separately, the commentary has some nice bits of information from the director and screenwriter, although I do have to say that of all of the Scott commentaries that I have, this wasn’t one of the better ones. Good, but not great. The unrated cut’s exclusive is Universal’s U-Control picture-in-picture feature which rehashes a fair amount of behind-the-scenes and interview footage found on one of the documentaries found elsewhere on this disc.
Fallen Empire: Making American Gangster can be viewed two ways: either in five separate sections or as one 79-minute documentary. Either way, this is an interesting look at various aspects of the production as well as the real-life events that inspired the film. The docs feature interviews with the principals of the film as well as the real-life Frank Lucas and Richie Roberts. One minor complaint is that there really is no sort of conclusion to the documentary. It just sort of…ends.
The three-part Case Filesruns roughly 27 minutes and like Fallen Empire gives you the option to watch the parts separately or as one documentary. Script Meeting is a fly-on-the-wall look at a July 26th, 2006 script meeting with Scott, Roberts and, via conference call, Zallian as they discuss the conclusion of the film as well as the Ali/Frasier fight where Roberts first encounters Lucas. Heroin Test Show and Tell has Scott visiting with the NYPD to discuss the authenticity of the main drug used in the film. Setting Up the Takedown is behind-the-scenes footage of the film’s big gun battle towards the final act. The fly-on-the-wall approach to these shorts is a good one, and one wishes that all of the documentary footage on this disc was shot the same way.
BET Special: the Making of American Gangster is an 18-minute promotional piece shown on the African-American television network around the time of the film’s theatrical run. It offers quick interviews with cast and crew members and might have been a bit better if it didn’t have the overly-dramatic voiceover accompanying it.
A better twenty-minute examination of the film lies in the news piece from NBC’s Dateline series in the fall of 2007. Dateline NBC: American Gangster the First Look has “Today” host Matt Lauer sitting in the Lennox Lounge in Harlem interviewing Crowe and Washington, who both seem far more relaxed here than they do in some of the other docs. Scott, the real-life Roberts and Lucas are also interviewed.
Even after putting nearly an entire reel of footage back into the movie, there are two Deleted Scenes that run a little over five minutes, if that. The first is an alternate opening, which ends up being a post-credit scene and lasts about a minute. The second is Frank and Eva’s (played by the beautiful Lymari Nadal) wedding ceremony. I can see why Scott kept this deleted from both cuts of the film as having it back in the film would definitely slow down the pace.
Hip Hop Infusion is a quick five-minute look at two of the musical artists, Common and T.I., who star in the film. To keep the musical aspect of the production going there are two Music Videos as well. One is for Anthony Hamilton’s soulful track “Do You Feel Me” and Jay Z’s rap tune “American Gangster,” which I listened to about a minute of. Sorry guys, not a big fan of hip hop in general. Finally, there is the two-minute Theatrical Trailer which does a nice job at selling the film.
American Gangster is another entertaining film from the prolific Ridley Scott. It moves along a nice pace, Scott’s directing is quite proficient and the performances by Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe are quite good. A pedestrian script by Steve Zallian, however, holds the film back from being in the same class of the movies it so clearly wants to be like. Universal’s HD DVD was lacking to say the least, but the new Blu-ray edition sets things right. If you are a fan of American Gangster, this disc is an easy recommendation. For everyone else, the disc makes for an ideal rental.
-Shawn Fitzgerald
