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On face value it would seem that Ridley Scott is out of his comfort zone with American Gangster. The popular director repeatedly says in interviews that he loves creating worlds, as he has proved with various visually stunning films including Alien, Blade Runner (soon to receive a cinema re-release) and Gladiator. Although American Gangster also entails a degree of world-building - in this case, New York City and neighbouring New Jersey in the 1960s and 70s - Scott's skills in widescreen cinematography are not tested much here. Indeed, the film is shot in a relatively narrow aspect ratio (1.85:1), one of only four such films in the director's career, and at some points the often packed visuals seem to be bursting at the seams, demanding the super-widescreen format (conversely, Robert Redford chose to shoot the very intimate and small-scale Lions for Lambs in the widest ratio, a strange choice for a film that mostly consists of talking heads).
Most people will not see American Gangster for Sir Ridley's camerawork; it's the promised acting face-off between Denzel Washington and Ridley Scott that probably puts most butts on seats. Both of the leads are very impressive. Washington clearly enjoys playing a slightly more complex character than the straight-up good guys he often portrays, although his Frank Lucas, the drug baron who through ingenious means manages to import high-quality heroin from southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, is actually shown in a fairly sympathetic light - the criticisms that the film glamorises his life of crime are, to a degree, understandable. Certainly Lucas is more likeable than Washington's Oscar-winning performance as a corrupt cop in Training Day. Russell Crowe, meanwhile, delivers his second worthwhile 2007 "comeback" performance (after 3:10 to Yuma), although he is not quite outstanding due to a slightly less-than-memorable role. The attention given to these two completely overshadows every other character, none of whom are allowed much development time.
Scott is certainly attempting to create a crime epic on a par with Scorsese's Goodfellas or Mann's Heat, and the aforementioned lack of development for the minor characters is one of the reasons that he fails to equal them. A more important one is that, despite a fairly consistent pace, it never quite engrosses, although the reason for that is hard to identify. It's only in the last 45 minutes or so, as Crowe's Detective Richie Roberts finally begins to home in on Lucas, that it really hits its stride, but it does so with a level of panache that makes it an excellent payoff for the nearly two hours of build-up. The two separate strands finally converge with a superbly edited montage echoing Coppola in his prime, although it loses marks for lack of originality. Without a distinctive directorial style other than a flair for visuals, Scott proves here that he is indeed a talented and versatile craftsman able to interweave a complex crime narrative. Despite his experience, though, American Gangster never quite hits the bull's-eye.
The summary
A quality outing to be sure, but despite the ambition on show American Gangster is unlikely to find itself ranked among the classics in years to come. Still, some Oscar recognition would not be surprising.
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