American Gangster - B+

The most interesting scene in American Gangster, Ridley Scott’s return to form after the disappointments of A Good Year (C), Kingdom of Heaven (B-), and Matchstick Men (B-), occurs during a custody battle between detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) and his wife (Carla Gugino) when she tells him he may be an honest cop but he’s dishonest with every other aspect of his life. Roberts had recently turned in nearly $1 million in unmarked cash but since police corruption is rampant, a cop who’s too honest makes everyone else uncomfortable. It’s the kind of complexity that’s missing from much of the rest of this latest entry into the cops and gangsters genre.

After his longtime mob boss dies in 1970, Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) tries to take over the neighborhood. Through a cousin in Vietnam, he makes a deal to ship heroin back to America cheap – and in a more pure form. This makes him a multi-millionaire. He brings his mother and younger brothers from North Carolina to New York to help him with the business. Like the local Italians/Sicilians, he stresses family, wears nice suits, and always acts professional in public. This is an interesting point to the character and a key to his success, but it puts restrictions on Denzel and makes it a much less interesting and memorable performance than the druglord in Training Day.

Crowe fares slightly better since his character is given much more to accomplish. Late in the movie, it's revealed that Roberts has Jewish heritage. Russell Crowe is many things and being a Gentile is one of them. It also doesn’t help that Crowe was superb as the wily, tough bad guy in the very recent 3:10 to Yuma. Since much less is expected of ex-Goonie Josh Brolin, he’s very impressive as a crooked cop. The always reliable Chiwetel Ejiofor turns in a good performance as one of Denzel’s brothers.

If nothing else, Ridley Scott’s attention to detail and his ability to create fully realized lived-in worlds continues to impress. 1970s New York is recreated impeccably and many characters have fun with the clothes, hairstyles, music, and lingo. It’s completely engrossing –fast-paced and fascinating. It also has the best movie shootout in recent memory, with perfect blocking of the cops removing innocent bystanders from the scene before they enter Frank’s heroin factory. But the only message the movie seems to want to send is that cops are not all good and drug dealers are not all bad. You can’t flip channels for 10 minutes without seeing that theme.

After Frank gets busted, he turns in dozens of dirty cops including 3/4 of the New York DEA. After ruining countless lives with heroin, the movie wants to turn Frank into a hero because he testified against bribed cops. That kind of moral equivalency may get you Oscar nominations, but it won’t sit well with everyone. B+

I was going to use this in the Michael Clayton comments, but wanted to see that movie first – and it seemed to fit in here. Here’s a David Mamet quote from the recently released Criterion DVD House of Games commentary track: “The thing that makes lawyers so disgraceful is not that they say that there is no better or worse case; that each side is equal to a hearing; that the law has nothing to do with morality. It’s not that they say it. It’s that they eventually come to believe it.”