In case you needed further proof of how 1337 I am, I managed to see American Gangster before its release date. The question is, of course, how is it? Can Ridley Scott regain the form that was apparently lost during Kingdom of Heaven and The Good Year (seriously…The Good Year? vomit). I’ll answer that question thusly:
The first scene of American Gangster is Denzel Washington lighting some Mexican dude on fire and then shooting him in the face.
Read that again. So, yeah it’s good.
I seem unable to write complete sentences right now, so I’ll just distill the film into bullet points:
- The Good: the performances are incredible. Russel Crowe is solid, as always, Josh Brolin is great as a menacing corrupt cop, and Denzel Washington completely owns the movie as the smiling one minute/violent sociopath the next Frank.
Ok, screw bullet points: Actually just about everything in the movie is damn well done, from the cinematography on down. Scott creates some great 70s atmosphere, which reminded me of the other very good 70s crime film from this year Zodiac (although this is better). There’s a bit of bloating with the Russel Crowe estranged wife stuff but it’s not that bad. All in all I’d say it’s the best gangster movie since The Departed (although, honestly, it’s not really on the same level). There is basically no reason not to go see it. Word.
