American Gangster

[III]

Anybody seed this'n yet? I've got the day off work tomorrow so I'm gonna take my wife out to a movie. We really wanted to see No Country For Old Men, but it's not playing in our area (stupid Cohen brothers) so we're thinking about American Gangster. Does it have anything original to offer or is it just a predictable, well-acted gangster film?

[robeiae]

Yes. Awesome. I love Denzel as a bad guy. And the rest of the cast was very strong, imo.

ETA: It's based on real events, III. And it's incredibly well-made, imo. No big plot twists, true--but it didn't need any, again imo.

[Jcomp]

Yes. Awesome. I love Denzel as a bad guy. And the rest of the cast was very strong, imo.

My sentiments exactly. Denzel has this incomparable, cool menace when he plays these kinds of roles. Loved it.

[III]

I ended up seeing it last night with a buddy. I'd have to say it was very good. I liked the pacing throughout. The director was able to get in and out of scenes without alot of self-important crap. I LOVED the replication of the 70's - clutter everywhere, everyone constantly smoking, and of course the hairdo's. Denzel is impossible to take your eyes off of - he can just sit there and do absolutely nothing and it's riveting to watch. Russle Crowe I can take or leave, but he did manage to hide his Australian accent about 60% of the time so I give him credit for trying. The ending definitely made the movie.

I would have liked to have heard alot more music from the 70's, though. Scorsese uses music like a branding iron across an entire cow. Tarantino too. I just wished Scott would have taken a similar approach. I'd probably rate this film as much better than We Own The Night but not as good as The Departed. It's definitely worth watching, but it's probably worth waiting for the DVD.