American Gangster

Starring: Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe
Directed by Ridley Scott
Year: 2007
IMDB / Wikipedia

This film only has two stars. The rest of the cast was trying to keep up in their supporting roles. But, for what it’s worth, they came up short against two of the best actors to come along in a great long time. I could make an “Ebony and Ivory” joke here, but I won’t because it’s more than that. These two actors have graced the screen together twice, here and in the Sci-Fi thriller Virtuosity made 12 years prior. Both good films, but this one stands alone not only in each actors’ respective catalogs, but also in the Crime Drama genre itself.

The story is based on the real life events surrounding the rise and fall of Frank Lucas (Washington) who comes to power in the Harlem heroin game after his mentor passes away. On the other side of the law is the last good cop in New Jersey, Richie Robbins (Crowe) who is made the head of a Federal task force team out of New Jersey whose focus is to bring down the heads of the drug business in the area. Along the way a web of corruption, rivalry, and lies are woven as these two men’s lives, both on and off the street, are paralleled until they finally meet.

In another dimension, Michael Mann could have made this film. However, I feel he would have done it in his over-stylized-yet-minimalistic sort of way that would detract from the characters drawing influence and motivation from their surroundings into a film like Heat where the characters shape the environment. In this film, it was central to the plot to show that each character had a driving interest outside of themselves and their own sense of self-preservation and that would have been lost had this been a Mann-driven film. Thankfully, Ridley Scott held the reigns of this film and made it everything it should have been.

This movie was poised and, depending to whom you speak, fulfilled its promise to be the next Scarface, a film that glamorized and decried the life of crime simultaneously. It can be said that not every criminal was truly a bad person to the core. Some were amiable, downright friendly, but they made choices that defined them on a wider scope than any personal relationship. And it’s true, some people choose the life of crime because they felt there was no other way to put food on the table for their families and their want was for a better life, not to commit evil; but it rarely turns out the way they hoped. This film, like so many other crime rise-and-fall movies in the genre shows the consequences. No one gets away clean–no one exits the story how they entered–they are all changed forever and must live with the consequences of their actions.

But, where this movie sets itself apart from the rest, what made it better than Scarface, and probably why the true events made such a good candidate for a motion picture was that both the main characters wanted the same thing in the end. To that end, they worked toward a common goal and they both came out a tad more righteous in the end. If you have the means (and I think Netflix still offers it this way) get the extended/unrated/director’s cut version of the film. There’s a few added scenes which give substantially more context than the standard theatrical version (and don’t get my started on the butchered television version) especially an extended ending.

Most Valuable Actor: Denzel Washington’s portrayal as Frank Lucas was more an homage than a re-imagining as he plays the role of a hard-edged gangster with a strict moral honor code sublimely. In all honesty, the reason he’s here and Crowe isn’t is because his storyline was far more interesting because he made it so. That’s something remarkable in a film like this.

Trailer:

15 Minutes

Starring: Robert De Niro, Edward Burns, and Karel Roden          
Directed by John Herzfeld
Year: 2001
IMDB / Wikipedia

When I was a bright-eyed journalist cutting my teeth on the college newspaper, I thought long and hard about what I would need to do to get along in this business. I always wondered how some reporters got the big stories and the people who vowed to keep their mouths shut to tell their side of things. Then I learned that journalism isn’t about cracking a case like a detective, it’s about agreements. If you can get someone to agree to tell their story they will expect something in return. Whether it’s money or a favorable slant on the story, journalism is more of a two-way street than anyone ever thought.

15 Minutes  was billed as a gritty take on the media (personified by Kelsey Grammer), the police (Robert DeNiro), and how the two helped one another. Mixed into this agreement and the sensationalism that follows, are two Eartern European criminals (Karel Roden and Oleg Taktarov) who decide to buy into the fame and fortune of crime they see on television and videotape their crimes to, one day, sell for a fortune. Along for the ride is an idealistic Fire Marshall (Edward Burns) who does his best to be the moral compass of the story.

The last movie reviewed here was helmed by a director whose distinct lack of style was noteworthy. With this film, the director has too much style, making odd shot choices, and telling a good story with a slew of A-List actors very poorly. There was so much ham on screen I don’t think observant Jewish people should view it. The stars seemed to be forced to chew the scenery so much I could see bleeding gums. This movie should have been a great crime drama/thriller but, instead, was two hours of people overacting and making stupid looks into the camera (way to break the fourth wall, dumbass!).

More than that, we finally saw that Edward Burns is not the big movie star he was advertised as being. His role was simple enough they could have brought in any young actor to play it. It required a gritty innocence that anyone could have pulled off but, somehow, it seemed forced and contrived when coming from Burns. Someone once told me that any bad actor is one where you can tell he/she is trying to act. For Burns, he looked uncomfortable and unnatural on screen surrounded by all of these acting heavyweights. A better script would have called for more screen time for DeNiro and his partner, aptly played by Avery Brooks, a man who overacts so well that it actually becomes good.

I have said in the past that I do not have a bad movie in my collection. Here I am, only a handful of movies into this project, and I have to recant. I can’t believe I paid money for this piece of shit. It was profound the first time I saw it but it didn’t have staying power. Lesson learned. Moving on.

Most Valuable Actor: Oleg Taktarov as Oleg Razgul, the “director” criminal. how can one actor be, simultaneously, the best and worst thing about a movie. He was the best because he was so childlike and, really, the only principle who didn’t seem like he was acting. Plus, he got some really good lines as he was the only comic relief in the film. He was the worst, however, because this film didn’t need him to be comic relief. He could have been written as a straight-man accomplice and it would have had a more resonating effect that countered Karel Roden’s sociopathic character. Oleg gets this distinction because he took a shitty part and did it very well.