What’s all the hype about? This isn’t the first time that Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe have faced off on the big screen. Remember Virtuosity? That’s what I thought. The basic premise was that Crowe, flush from his star making turn in The Quick and the Dead, plays SID 6.7, a serial killer composite born in virtual reality that escapes into the real world. Denzel was the cop that had to stop him from reaping havoc in the not-to-distant-future. Such a story, and what a tremendous success at the box office, one wonders why it took more then 12 years for these titans to team up again.



Based on a true story, American Gangster takes place on the mean streets of Manhattan in the 1970s. Frank Lucas (Washington) takes over a criminal empire from his mentor and sets about making a name for himself by getting into the heroin business. Lucas establishes a delivery route for pure heroin direct from Southeast Asia to the US, where he can sell a product that’s twice as pure for half the price. Richie Roberts (Crowe) is a NYPD narcotics officer famous for turning over a million dollars in cash to evidence. Roberts is made head of a crew of federal agents under a new drug-centric agency to track down the heroin to its source and very slowly they begin making a case against Frank Lucas.



Like Heat, another movie that teamed two powerhouse actors on opposite sides of the law, the script almost goes out of its way to keep these characters apart until the very end of the film. As a consequence we almost get two different movies with Washington as the black Godfather and Crowe leading an Untouchables like crew out to bring down a criminal empire. In fact, there are portions of Gangster that plays like Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables, but sans De Palma’s characteristic action style and oblique camera angles.



This is the Washington show, unquestionably. His character is the more interesting, he has the better arc and as consequence, he gets the lion’s share of the attention. What’s neat is the way Washington clothes himself in that nice guy demeanour that he’s so perfectly perfected over the years; Lucas is no Alonzo-style thug to be sure. Lucas sets himself up as a man of the people and you believe, which makes it all the more galling when he walks up to an enemy on the street and shoots him in the head in broad daylight.



Crowe’s cop is more staid despite attempts to make him more of an imperfect human though not dirty per se. Crowe is also saddled with a subplot involving a custody battle with his ex-wife (played by Carla Gugino) which is utterly pointless as it adds nothing really to the story. I can only imagine that it was employed in order to give Crowe some balance and give him something more interesting to chew on other than looking imploringly at police files and rap sheets for inspiration to break the case.



The film’s two hour and forty minute running time appears daunting, but I actually found that the story moved along rather briskly. Sir Ridley Scott goes to great trouble to detail the elaborate operation that Lucas put in place and the obstacles that Roberts encountered in trying to not only identify the big boss, but also having to fight his not only this intricate organization but the cops that are supposed to be in his side. Aside from the marquee names, the film is filled with a tremendous character actors giving great performances in parts big and small, whether its Josh Brolin’s morally bankrupt cop or Cuba Gooding Jr’s gangster Nicky Barnes.



It’s always hard to do something new and exciting with the gangster genre but American Gangster comes with a marvellous energy and a script that allows powerhouse actors to shine in their roles. Both Scott and Crowe can consider themselves redeemed for their combined failure in A Good Year (Better known as “Russell Crowe sits around and drinks wine for two hours”).