AMERICAN GANGSTER
IRRESISTIBLY BLOODY & SWEET ‘BRANDAWAGON’
by Vishal Verma

Rating:

What is it?
Kind attention Tata’s Birla’s Ambani’s, Bajaj’s & Co. Mr. Frank Lucas ( much about him in the next Paragraph) wants to share some ‘brand’ secrets which may be useful for all in near future. "American Gangster" may be the first underworld flick in which a drug kingpin lectures a subordinate about the significance of "brand names" and "trademark infringement" in the heroin trade.

In that scene Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), the crime lord of Harlem, warns low-level mobster Nicky Barnes (Cuba Gooding Jr.) to stop selling inferior smack under the Lucas-established "Blue Magic" brand. For the junkie consumer, Lucas asserts, Blue Magic promises a certain level of quality -- like Pepsi.

Frank says “My Company sells a product that’s better than the competition at a price that’s lower than the competition”.

Lucas isn't lying: it’s the same feeling when academy award winning combo of Russell Crowe ( Gladiator, The Insider) & Denzel Washington( Training Day, The Hurricane), join Oscar winning producer Brian Grazer ( A beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man ), Director Producer Ridley Scott ( Gladiator, Black Hawk Down) and academy Award winning screenwriter Steve Zaillian ( Schindler’s List, Gangs Of New York )  come together for a cinematic event ‘ American Gangster’ which starts with a shock and in the end leaves you surprised!

Got It ………. Never Mind ! in simple words ‘American Gangster is certainly a better product than those which are available in the competition but when it comes to the ‘High’ or the measurement of an epic, it somehow falls short.

It’s quite good but not Gr8.

With quite an Impressive credit list, and all the hype about the nominations, I fixed ‘American Gangster’ in the list of top priorities and in the end returned satisfied but not staggered.

Some may start drawing comparisons with epics like Coppola’s ‘Godfather’ or Palma’s ‘Scarface’ or Scorsese ‘Goodfellas’ but I don’t see any reason in doing that.

Cause you cannot compare ‘Sholay’ with ‘Bandit Queen’ though both are dacoit flicks.
Because one was fantasy and the other real!   

The film is based on the true story of a Harlem heroin dealer named Frank Lucas who flew under everyone’s radar because no one could believe that an African American mobster could be bigger than a Mafia don.

Director Ridley Scott opens the film with a scene of Lucas brutally murdering a man by setting him on fire. So from the very first moment, we know what Lucas is capable of and how casually cruel he could be. But like the men of The Godfather, Lucas had a strong sense of family, a businessmans approach to crime and an undeniable charm.

Scott the man of details in ‘American Gangster’ does it with a methodical sense of slowly building up evidence. Lucas may be the dynamic core of this film, but Roberts sets the deliberate, dogged tone. This is not a fast-paced; shoot ‘em up cop action film, but rather an engrossing drama about the long hours and hard work that go into catching a criminal.

What is it all about?
Inspired by a New York Magazine story by Mark Jacobson titled "The Return of Superfly," "American Gangster" tells the more-or-less true and overlapping stories of Lucas ( Denzel Washington) and his eventual nemesis, Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe), a New Jersey cop so honest he turns in a million dollars in unmarked cash he finds in a car trunk.

A sledgehammer-wielding arrest warrant server by day and law student by night, Roberts' integrity makes him so unpopular among the corrupt cops of the movie's 1968-to-1975 time span that he is pulled from the force to head a special federal narcotics squad. Following the dots from addict to dealer to source, he discovers that Lucas has taken over the city's drug trade by cutting out the Mafia middle men and importing pure heroin from Bangkok on military cargo planes, under cover of the chaos of the Vietnam War.

What to look out for?
Ridley Scott’s work is compelling from the script by Steven Zallian which results in a ‘Hatke’ Ganster Flick with an African-American antihero at its center.

Denzel Washington rules the screen with an outstanding performance.

Russell Crowe on the other hand, takes on the less flashy role of Richie Roberts, and comes out with flying colours.

American Gangster may not be great art, but it’s impressive in featuring a compelling true story at its core.

What not?
Ridley Scott tries hard to maintain a balance between the protagonist and antagonist but fails in providing proper justice.

Richie’s troubled married life takes the unwanted footage in this mobster flick.

Recommended: Certainly for Gangster flick walas.