Film Review: American Gangster

Liverpool Daily Post

American Gangster (18, 156 mins)
Starring: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Cuba Gooding Jr, Josh Brolin, Rza, John Ortiz, John Hawkes, Ted Levine, Clarence Williams III
Directed by: Ridley Scott

DURING decades of social, economic and racial turmoil, the world’s greatest superpower has consistently lost one battle: the war to purge its streets of drugs.

American Gangster recounts the true story of the rise and fall of Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington, right), who created a drugs empire in ’70s New York, controlling a large portion of the city’s heroin trade.

Aided and abetted by his five brothers, the so- called Country Boys, Frank successfully out- manoeuvred the ruling Italian mob, flooding Harlem with cheap, high- grade product emblazoned with the Blue Magic logo.

Rumoured to be raking in more than $1m a day at the height of his reign, Frank smuggled his illegal wares into the country in the coffins of dead servicemen.

Ridley Scott’s bloated thriller pits the real-life organised crime boss against a New Jersey cop, Detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) determined to clean up the streets and root out corruption in his own narcotics division.

The unfolding game of cat and mouse should make for riveting cinema but, like the evil drug that Frank peddles, the emotional high wears off far too quickly.

The 156-minute film severely tests our patience – editor Pietro Scalia could happily take a scalpel to the middle hour, and performances lack pizzazz.