Rating of
3/4
Not bad.. Just not the Masterpiece it could be.
mdtinney - wrote on 10/17/09
American Gangster seemingly has all the ingredients of a great movie: a great story, (multiple) Oscar-winning stars, a very solid supporting cast, and a good director. However, the film is not the sum of its parts. How do you go wrong with a gangster movie starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, and Ridley Scott directing? Watch American Gangster, and you'll see. The film lacks a great deal of character development, and it seems the details on both sides of the story are left out in favor of attention-grabbing scenes and montages. You have to give them credit. Even at 2 1/2 hours, American Gangster never drags. However, it seems awfully abbreviated, as if someone cut out most of the scenes that involved plot/ character development. With those details included, this could have been a 4-hour movie.Overall, American Gangster isn't a bad film. It just isn't the epic, Oscar-winning film it was marketed to be.
