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Bungion Boy Hunts Down AMERICAN GANGSTER!!
Merrick again...
Bungion Boy sent in this look at AMERICAN GANGSTER; a Ridley Scott film starring Denzel Washington & Russell Crowe that I'm really looking forward to.
Denzel's busy with the brothers Scott these days. last year he was the lead in Tony Scott's DEJA VU, he's in this film, and he's recently been announced as the lead in Tony's remake of THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123 - which was a great film to begin with, but I can also "see" a new version working.
Anyway, here's Bungion Boy about Ridley's latest...
Bungion Boy back in New York again with a review of Ridley Scott’s new film “American Gangster.” There’s a lot of buzz for this one and certainly a film that is aiming for some Oscar attention. There were more people lined up for this screening than I’ve ever seen in New York. For the first 90 minutes or so of this film I was so grateful to be watching a kind of film that doesn’t seem to get made much anymore. A period piece about a cop and gangster that is heavier on character and drama than it is on action and chases. I was often reminded of great films of this genre from the 70’s as I watched it, most notably “Serpico” and “The French Connection.” But gradually as I sat in that dark theatre tonight, the film gradually became more conventional and expected, losing what makes the early stuff so strong.
Denzel Washington gives one of his best performances in years as Frank Lucas. At the beginning of the film he is a small time gangster and bodyguard to a larger crime boss in Harlem. When that boss dies, Frank sees his chance to rise up. He sees that the future is heroin and with the help of a friend stationed overseas, he goes to Bangkok to place a very large order with all the money he has. On his return he starts selling the drugs, which are twice as good as the rest of the drugs found in New York, at half the price as the competition. In no time he’s a millionaire and brings up his whole family from the south to join his own version of the Italian mafia.
Meanwhile, Russell Crowe is Richie Roberts, seemingly the only honest detective in New Jersey. Not that he’s not tempted from time to time. There’s a great scene early on when he and his partner find a million dollars in drug money. He realizes that if he should keep it just because that’s what cops do. If he reports it there won’t be a single man on the force who will ever trust him again. Sure enough, he turns in the cash and suddenly when he starts calling for backup there’s never any cars that are in his area and able to help him. When he starts to notice an increase in the number of heroin overdoses he starts to get curious about where this new drug is coming from and starts to investigate the usual suspects.
What also helps to make the film so interesting is the amazing actors that are in it throughout. The incredible cast includes John Ortiz, Armand Assante, Ruby Dee, Roger Bart, Josh Brolin, Ted Levine, Carla Gugino, Jon Polito, RZA, John Hawks, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Chiwetel Ejiofor, who seems to be in every other movie these days but is always a welcomed addition. A lot of these character actors have been MIA for a while but all give stellar performances with even the smaller characters leaving a strong impression, with one of the small exceptions being Cuba Gooding Jr., who is barely seen in the film in spite of all the hype of him returning to serious acting in serious films. The best work from these actors probably comes from Assante, Ortiz, Dee, and Brolin, who is even better in “No Country For Old Men.”
For a while, the movie does an excellent job of showing us these two very different men without ever drawing parallels and connections to each other. Frank and Richie don’t even know that the other exists until 80 minutes into the film. This really works in the film’s favor. We don’t need to see the detective obsessed with catching his man or the criminal trying to do business while being hunted. Instead we get to know them while interacting with their own environment, rather than invading each others’. This, sadly though, also ends up hurting the film a bit. Each character has some great scenes and side stories that help develop their characters, some of the best being Crowe’s drug addict partner and custody battle with his ex wife, and Washington’s relationship with his family. However, once the movie does turn into a cat and mouse story, it almost makes some of the unrelated scenes feel like extra filler that had no effect on what the movie was telling me was the real story. It’s weird, I have complained so much in the past about movies that don’t offer any character development and this almost suffers from too much. I think it’s because I almost preferred these scenes to the actual story of the movie and I would have rather just spent time with them alone then see the two characters brought together.
Of the two leads, Crowe was by far my favorite. He seems to say so much, sometimes without saying a word. Just after a few scenes with him you know exactly what his character is all about. Washington is also excellent and probably more likely to attract award attention for his performance, but his character was a little more generic and less defined, yet also too much of a mystery. Frank is supposed to be a terrifying and respected person, but we never truly understand why or how he accomplishes this. There is one great, shocking scene with the awesome Idris Elba (Stringer Bell on “The Wire”) where Frank shows his family and workers just how extreme he can be, but once this happens we get too much of him acting like the king of New York but never really doing anything other than sitting in his house waiting for the drug money to roll in. This is where the film turns a bit more into DePalma’s “Scarface,” which is why it lost me a bit. Frank often talks about how he has all this wisdom and experience but never explains what that is. There is one moment where he mentions to his girlfriend that his mentor taught him a lot of things. “Like what?” she asks. The movie then cuts to Denzel shooting someone in the head. “About Life,” he responds. There are a few other odd Ridley Scott cuts and montages like that, which don’t always work, especially the one that comes at Thanksgiving in which we are shown the parallel between how rich and comfortable Frank is compared to his customers who are living in slums and overdosing, but it’s really just about all we ever see of the drug users in the film so they’re not really there long enough to make an impression.
But for the most part, Scott’s direction is great and inventive. He balances the quiet scenes with intense and chaotic ones with ease. One raid scene near the end was especially well staged. The subtle 70’s era is captured very well, without ever feeling like we’re being forced a period piece with funky costumes and cars everywhere you look. With the recent “Zodiac” and the BBC show “Life on Mars,” I’ve really discovered that police procedural material is a lot more interesting to watch when all of the modern conveniences are taken away. I must say that I prefer “Zodiac” a great deal to “American Gangster,” but despite my complaints, I did enjoy quite a bit of this film, and it seemed that most of the people in the theatre either loved or liked the film, except for my friend sitting next to me who hated it.
This is not the best film I’ve seen this year but I do recommend it for the performances and for what at times feels like a fresh take on the crime movie. The rest of the time… well at least you won’t be bored.
-Bungion Boy
Denzel Washington gives one of his best performances in years as Frank Lucas. At the beginning of the film he is a small time gangster and bodyguard to a larger crime boss in Harlem. When that boss dies, Frank sees his chance to rise up. He sees that the future is heroin and with the help of a friend stationed overseas, he goes to Bangkok to place a very large order with all the money he has. On his return he starts selling the drugs, which are twice as good as the rest of the drugs found in New York, at half the price as the competition. In no time he’s a millionaire and brings up his whole family from the south to join his own version of the Italian mafia.
Meanwhile, Russell Crowe is Richie Roberts, seemingly the only honest detective in New Jersey. Not that he’s not tempted from time to time. There’s a great scene early on when he and his partner find a million dollars in drug money. He realizes that if he should keep it just because that’s what cops do. If he reports it there won’t be a single man on the force who will ever trust him again. Sure enough, he turns in the cash and suddenly when he starts calling for backup there’s never any cars that are in his area and able to help him. When he starts to notice an increase in the number of heroin overdoses he starts to get curious about where this new drug is coming from and starts to investigate the usual suspects.
What also helps to make the film so interesting is the amazing actors that are in it throughout. The incredible cast includes John Ortiz, Armand Assante, Ruby Dee, Roger Bart, Josh Brolin, Ted Levine, Carla Gugino, Jon Polito, RZA, John Hawks, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Chiwetel Ejiofor, who seems to be in every other movie these days but is always a welcomed addition. A lot of these character actors have been MIA for a while but all give stellar performances with even the smaller characters leaving a strong impression, with one of the small exceptions being Cuba Gooding Jr., who is barely seen in the film in spite of all the hype of him returning to serious acting in serious films. The best work from these actors probably comes from Assante, Ortiz, Dee, and Brolin, who is even better in “No Country For Old Men.”
For a while, the movie does an excellent job of showing us these two very different men without ever drawing parallels and connections to each other. Frank and Richie don’t even know that the other exists until 80 minutes into the film. This really works in the film’s favor. We don’t need to see the detective obsessed with catching his man or the criminal trying to do business while being hunted. Instead we get to know them while interacting with their own environment, rather than invading each others’. This, sadly though, also ends up hurting the film a bit. Each character has some great scenes and side stories that help develop their characters, some of the best being Crowe’s drug addict partner and custody battle with his ex wife, and Washington’s relationship with his family. However, once the movie does turn into a cat and mouse story, it almost makes some of the unrelated scenes feel like extra filler that had no effect on what the movie was telling me was the real story. It’s weird, I have complained so much in the past about movies that don’t offer any character development and this almost suffers from too much. I think it’s because I almost preferred these scenes to the actual story of the movie and I would have rather just spent time with them alone then see the two characters brought together.
Of the two leads, Crowe was by far my favorite. He seems to say so much, sometimes without saying a word. Just after a few scenes with him you know exactly what his character is all about. Washington is also excellent and probably more likely to attract award attention for his performance, but his character was a little more generic and less defined, yet also too much of a mystery. Frank is supposed to be a terrifying and respected person, but we never truly understand why or how he accomplishes this. There is one great, shocking scene with the awesome Idris Elba (Stringer Bell on “The Wire”) where Frank shows his family and workers just how extreme he can be, but once this happens we get too much of him acting like the king of New York but never really doing anything other than sitting in his house waiting for the drug money to roll in. This is where the film turns a bit more into DePalma’s “Scarface,” which is why it lost me a bit. Frank often talks about how he has all this wisdom and experience but never explains what that is. There is one moment where he mentions to his girlfriend that his mentor taught him a lot of things. “Like what?” she asks. The movie then cuts to Denzel shooting someone in the head. “About Life,” he responds. There are a few other odd Ridley Scott cuts and montages like that, which don’t always work, especially the one that comes at Thanksgiving in which we are shown the parallel between how rich and comfortable Frank is compared to his customers who are living in slums and overdosing, but it’s really just about all we ever see of the drug users in the film so they’re not really there long enough to make an impression.
But for the most part, Scott’s direction is great and inventive. He balances the quiet scenes with intense and chaotic ones with ease. One raid scene near the end was especially well staged. The subtle 70’s era is captured very well, without ever feeling like we’re being forced a period piece with funky costumes and cars everywhere you look. With the recent “Zodiac” and the BBC show “Life on Mars,” I’ve really discovered that police procedural material is a lot more interesting to watch when all of the modern conveniences are taken away. I must say that I prefer “Zodiac” a great deal to “American Gangster,” but despite my complaints, I did enjoy quite a bit of this film, and it seemed that most of the people in the theatre either loved or liked the film, except for my friend sitting next to me who hated it.
This is not the best film I’ve seen this year but I do recommend it for the performances and for what at times feels like a fresh take on the crime movie. The rest of the time… well at least you won’t be bored.
-Bungion Boy
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+ Expand All
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Schilky Schmoove
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It's still got to be worth it watching Crowe and Denzel...
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Scott+Washington+Crowe= good time at movie
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that's all I'm saying.
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it seems like more of an acting excercise for Crowe and Washington with some action at the end then a modern crime drama. However you know they'll promote it as some big chase hunt cat and mouse movie
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I want this movie to be good really bad....
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Insert obligatory Bungion Boy comment here.
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Viva el Chiwetel!
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Ridley aint dun nowt that interests for ages least it's not by his brother coz I dont think I could stand my senses bleeding agin and Denzel is always watchable I guess, unless he's working for Tony which is every other film these days! doesn't he ever watch the movies he makes and decides that Tones Epileptic editing ruins his performance.
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Sep 25, 2007 10:22:36 AM CDT
Anything that delays The Warriors Remake is fine by me!
by spandau belly
Keep Tony Scott away from that property long enough and hopefully he'll just move on and forget it.If he does end up remaking The Warriors as he's been threatening for years, I think we should raise some money so Walter Hill can remake Top Gun, or even better, shine Scott on by doing a good version of Domino.
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Modern police procedural stuff can be just as good, as long as the right attention is paid. Modern conveniences hardly make any of the work easier on The Wire.
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Who remembers "VIRTUOSITY"???????
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Awesome!!! But inevitably I'll compare this to The Wire and feel let down.
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I should. It's Scott & Denzel. But it just seems like a tired step backwards. Wow, look how powerful the hard working black criminal has become!!! Watching the trailer I feel like Scott for whatever reason decided to remake New Jack City.
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Sir, you just pinpointed why my friend hated this movie so much. I just recently got him hooked on The Wire and all he kept saying at the end of this was "The Wire is better." Well of course it is. The Wire is better than most things in life. But this isn't bad either.
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It's just that this films seems to be telling the story of a dogged determined cop and a very powerful and clever drug kingpin and his organisation. The Wire Season 1 in other words. Normally I levee The Wire out of comparisons as like you say, it's better than most anything more the similarities seem a bit too big to ignore. I just have one question - Is Crowe's character doing it for the pride and ego etc etc like McNulty or is he your standard "one good cop figthing for justice"?
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"..it's better than most anything. But the similarities.." is how that sentence should read.
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What the fuck is T.I. and Common doing in this!? I fucking love hip-hop, but I dont know if these guys should be this film. Especially T.I. ass. You guys better not suck!
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One of the things that makes Crowe's character so great is that it's not too clear. He's driven to stop these drugs because since the rest of the force has pretty much abandoned him he feels that if everyone else is corrupt, he might as well do something important. There's also a bit of the ego element. Especially at the end when he actually acts as prosecuting lawyer in his case against Washington. Almost as if he wants to be known as not only the man who caught him, but the man that put him away. And then his legacy becomes something else when he accomplishes something far more noteworthy, which I won't get into. Although I will say that the movie really could have benefitted from seeing more of these scenes at the end. The last scenes felt really rushed and since there is a pretty big turn for both characters, it doesn't play as well as it could have. No, Crowe's character is nowhere near as deep and cool as McNulty. There are few things better than The Wire. As soon as the film was over my friend and I were comparing one specific part of the film to McNulty's speech about needing a victory at the end of Season 3. Love that show. Always nice to find a fellow fan.
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But that "turning in the money instead of taking it like all the other cops do it and now we blacklist you" portion makes me wary. How many times do we need to see variations on that particular story? All cops but one being bad may play ok in a Batman movie, but this is supposed to be real life, isn't it? Oh, and I doubt it, but do we get to see Carla Gugino's boobies?
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to pander to the young African American demographic.
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Does anyone else feel this way about Washington? I always enjoy his work and he is a good actor, but doesn't disappear into his roles like the best do.
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Spot on, the cinematography in 1492 is mindblowing. It's about time it got a proper DVD release, mind you, nothing can compare to seeing that film on the big screen.
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Oh wait, is that the great big fat lady?
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That does sound more interesting a character than I was expecting. Good stuff.
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Don't possibly see how it can go wrong. Well, except with the soundtrack. They could always fill the soundtrack with mediocre modern hip hop or something...
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I think that this movie has one of the best trailers around. It's number 2 right below the trailer for No Country for Old Men. Can't wait to see both movies.
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You checking out the New York Film festival the next two weeks?
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What about Alien? Black Rain was gorgeous but it was almost heavy handed in areas with the lighting. It looked very "lit" in many spots. Have to say, though, it did work for the most part.
The cinematrography in ALIEN was masterful and never drew attention to itself.
They're both beautiful looking movies, but, Ridley started to go a bit "Tony" in Black Rain. -
Great cast. Don't know if I would cast Idris Elba in a crime flick though. Like you really want anyone even unknowingly comparing your flick to something as staggering as The Wire.
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A movie this '70s-looking, and from a Scott brother no less, and one that obviously pays a certain homage to SCARFACE, goddamn oughta be in glorious 2.35:1 widescreen. But every time I've seen the trailer-- indeed, often before Scope movies, this has been in boring, hacky 1.85:1, which Ridley inexplicably uses every third or fourth film, for seemingly arbitrary reasons. If the subtle domesticity of MATCHSTICK MEN got full widescreen, why is epic '70s crime lord shit in the Hack-spect ratio of 1.85? Please tell me it's just the trailer, and not the film itself.
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...are you Lex M?
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Trailer on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROEvE4iziaw
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I hope this doesn't become the new SCARFACE, where the gang banger community completely misinterprets the themes of the movie and puts it up on some hip hop pedestal for all up-and-coming gangsta rappers to worship and quote. I fear the day that Plies or Chamillionare appear on MTV to show a camera crew around their digs, and they draw the shades to reveal AMERICAN GANGSTER venetian blinds. Scott, Crowe, and Denzel are too good to have their movie usurped by a bunch of fuckheads
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Sep 26, 2007 9:44:30 AM CDT
Charles Grady - trailer in 1:85:1. Film too - no scope.
by mister mcclane
Sorry to confirm Charles, but this is shot 1:85:1. Probably because it's an acting movie rather than a visual movie. In fact, saying that I would have had no idea it was a Ridley Scott film if I hadn't known going in, it had none of his usual style. A good movie, but certainly not great.
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Thank you, sir. So far the only film I'm seeing at the NYFF is "Margot At The Wedding." I've seen a lot of the other films playing there, like "Darjeeling Limited" and "No Country For Old Men." Liked "Limited" a lot. Loved "Country." Actually was trying to catch that again and bring some friends who have wanted to see it. The other big ones on my list are "Persepolis" and "I'm Not There." Going to try to see whatever I can but next week is going to be kind of crazy for me, what with a friend visiting me and various other activities, but I'm hoping to see something there. Last year I missed it completely.
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I wanted to see "Darjeerling" and "Country", but those sold out after the first day of ticket sales. So the only one I plan to see for now is "Redacted".
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Curious to see that. Have been hearing mixed things, but even with DePalma films that I hate, I'm always glad I saw them. You should try going to the box office for some of those shows that are sold out. There's usually a stand by line and at least some people are sure to get in.
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Wow, I totally forgot these two were both in that. Now the roles are reversed! Game over!
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