American Gangster

AMERICAN GANGSTER (2007) - Oct. 31, 2007
Denzel Washington is awesome as usual in this otherwise underwhelming and way overlong crime drama about a drug kingpin and the gritty cop trying to take him down. One of the film's main problems is that Washington's character is far more interesting than Russell Crowe's, and they probably get an equal amount of screentime -- and this being a two hour and forty minute movie, that's a lot of time. Though Washington is clearly the standout, all the performances are quite good. Another problem with the film is that the direction is surprisingly bland; it's hard to believe that it's directed by the same man who made Blade Runner, which is probably one of the most visually stunning movies ever made. The scene in which Crowe and Washington finally confront each other was pretty much electrifying, and I was always entertained, but this was still pretty disappointing. **1/2