Following the death of Harlem crime kingpin Bumpy Johnson, his protégé Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) seizes control of the volatile neighborhood’s drug trade, cheaply importing raw heroin and selling it at a price far lower than his competitors. A careless slip brings Lucas to the attention of New Jersey detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe), who has been selected to head a small task force charged with putting a dent in the tri-state area’s drug trafficking trade. Roberts and his team begin systematically targeting Lucas’s known associates, hoping to finally get a shot at taking down the man himself.

CRITIQUE

Ridley Scott’s American Gangster is yet another of 2007’s throwbacks to ‘70s filmmaking. Much like Zodiac and Michael Clayton, this film is both stylistically and thematically reminiscent of the best that decade had to offer; but unlike those two films, American Gangster cannot match its predecessors in terms of impact and effect. It’s a good film, populated by a topnotch cast and directed by one of the best craftsmen in the business, but it’s too standard in its approach to really score.

The shortcomings can be traced to Steven Zaillian’s script (which was almost brought to the screen by both Brian De Palma and Antoine Fuqua), which doesn’t do enough to get inside the heads of the main characters, especially Roberts, who largely ends up being a supporting character in his own story. Zaillian has been criticized by those in the know for playing very fast and loose with the facts, but that doesn’t matter to me; what does matter is that he often simply goes through the motions and presents many of the same story points we’ve seen in similar movies.

The cynic in me wants to accuse of his watching The French Connection and Serpico a few too many times during the writing process. Not that those are bad models to follow, especially as both are also based on true events, but both of those films made their characters live and breath, and gave you an understanding of what drove them.

American Gangster does that to some degree (but not enough) with Lucas (the details of whose operation comprise many of my favorite scenes in the film), but makes really no attempt to do the same for Roberts, who’s simply just another maverick cop butting heads with his fellow men in blue while trying to do what says he was hired to do. You’ve seen it before, and you’ve seen it presented in much the same way.

The casting works both for and against the film. Washington and Crowe are both great, but seeing them cast as opponents leads to certain expectations, expectations that largely go unmet. Let me put it this way: Imagine if the coffee shop scene in Heat (a film that perfectly demonstrates how to construct a similar story) had come five minutes before the final credits rolled; now imagine the last ten minutes of the film had never occurred. That’s pretty much how it goes with American Gangster.

Aside from the final shot, the ending here is more whimper than bang, which is very disappointing. At the same time, though, it’s easy to see the film wouldn’t be half as successful as it is without Washington and Crowe. Even with a much better script you couldn’t tell this story without actors of this caliber.         

The flipside of this combo disc offers up both the theatrical cut and an extended version of the film. (Universal’s decision not to include an HD version of the extended cut is only the first of numerous blunders they made with this release.) The extended version technically isn’t a Director’s Cut, as Scott had final cut on the theatrical version, but the director is on record as saying it’s the version he originally locked and screened for test audiences.

When the cards came back suggesting a few ways to improve the film, Scott (who in the past sworn up and down he’d never again let his decisions be dictated by the whims of test audiences) went back and edited out roughly eighteen minutes of footage. I have to say I prefer the theatrical version, as it’s slightly tighter; the ending in the extended version also needlessly hammers home a point more subtly made in the theatrical cut (the final moment of which features a perfect marriage of visuals and sounds).

THE VIDEO

The 1.85:1/1080p transfer, while not perfect, does a very good job of accurately reflecting the look Scott (who locked his patented bag of visual tricks in the closet for this one) and cinematographer Harris Savides chose for the film. Drawing on the visual schemes of the films that influenced it, American Gangster has a largely subdued, gritty appearance.

The palette here is dominated by earth tones, which aren’t exactly eye-catching, yet are nevertheless expertly reproduced. Black levels are strong throughout. The only real flaw is the uneven quality of darker scenes, which sometimes lack the depth, detail, and clarity exhibited by the remainder of the film.

THE AUDIO

Despite the fact issues of space likely weren’t a problem here, Universal chose not to include a lossless audio track here, opting instead for a standard Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 track. Sticking with the ‘70s vibe, the mix here is front-heavy, with the surrounds only sparingly used for a scant few directional effects and to help open up the music (including--unsurprisingly--Bobby Womack’s “Across 110th Street,” which--unsurprisingly--still works).

Low-end action is also sparse, but is put to excellent use the few times it is employed (particularly during the opening). Dialogue always has a clear, natural sound, although some of the thicker Italian accents can be a bit hard to decipher. Like the video, the audio doesn’t stand out, but it is fitting. A French Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 track is also included. English SDH and French subtitles are available.

THE EXTRAS

To call the extras here a disappointment would be an understatement!

Universal simultaneously released 2-disc and 3-disc standard-def releases of American Gangster, both of which contain quite a bit of material on both the making of the film and the events that inspired it. This release, however, features almost none of that, replacing it with a selection of bonus features that barely break the surface of the production.

The commentary by director Ridley Scott and writer Steven Zaillian is dominated by Zaillian, whose comments quite naturally center on the writing process, particularly how the film’s plot differs from actual events. Scott’s comments are largely of a technical nature. (Note: the commentary is available only on the theatrical cut.)

The U-Control Picture-in-Picture feature is easily the worst PiP track Universal has so far devised. The material largely consists of brief interviews and behind-the-scenes snippets; to make matters worse, there’s not much of it. Long stretches of the film unspool in between the PiP pop-ups, making this one seem like an afterthought. The logical thing to do would have been to use the documentary material from the standard-def release here, but that’s not the route Universal went. 

The Real Frank Lucas and Richie Roberts (5 minutes) offers a couple of short interviews with Washington and Crowe, who discuss the men they portray.

Up next is a selection of deleted scenes (12 minutes), one of which is an alternate opening. Most of these bits (which are not included in the longer cut of the film) are nothing more than extraneous dialogue exchanges between characters.

It’s not included on the HD side, but the DVD side of this release contains the film’s theatrical trailer.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The film itself doesn’t quite meet expectations, and this high-def disc comes nowhere close to meeting expectations. If you’re only interested in the film, you should consider this release. But if you’re looking for a decent selection of extras, you should look elsewhere. I’m recommending this one, but it’s a very mild recommendation.