American Gangster.

Let me preface by saying that this is one of the rare occasions where I actually enjoyed the trailer for a movie a lot more than the movie itself. Not that “American Gangster” was a bad movie, but the trailer was a real two minute cinematic masterstroke. The trailer made me imagine a chaotic, violent rise to power story in the league of Scarface, Goodfellas or The Godfather (indeed, some critics have called his movie “The Black Godfather”). It featured a montage of powerful scenes, killer dialog and some awesome cinematic effects that really drummed up excitement for the movie. What I experienced instead was a much more thoughtful, observant, but ultimately subdued crime story told from two sides of the law. It’s a very different rise-to-power movie than I’ve ever seen before.

You have to start with the performances. Denzel Washington is as great as he’s ever been, finding those neat little personality touches and quirks to make the character really come alive. For the most part his Frank Lucas is a straight-laced, business-minded, logical, supremely-motivated man that just happens to deal in an illegal substance. His goal is to corner the heroin market in Harlem by going directly to the supplier, cut out the middle man, and sell a purer product at a lower cost. He rallies his troops at home closely, recuriting his brothers and cousins to operate the distribution points. He follows a disciplined daily ritual, which includes taking his mother to church every Sunday and visiting one of two night clubs he owns every day, more likely to check up on his businesses than to enjoy himself. The fascinating part about Lucas is the way he insulates himself from the dirty aspects of his business… you never see him visiting his lab where the heroin is cut and packaged, he never uses his own product, and he never meets his customers. He deals strictly with his closed circle of family and keeps his hands clean, and maintains a clean-cut image that evokes an air of success. Only on rare occasions does he break out of his calm, calculating demeanor, and explodes into a surprising fit of brutal rage that appear to be just as surprising to himself as they are to those around him.

His antagonist is Richie Roberts, played convincingly by Russell Crowe, an equally moral cop studying for the bar at night school in his spare time, and in general is in a frazzled, short-on-sleep state for most of the movie. Early in the film he busts a crook with a million dollars cash in the trunk of his car, and Richie turns it into evidence, and earns the dismay of his fellow cops. His superiors recognize his skills and puts him in charge of a special drug task force under the authority of the State’s Attorney, where he similarly hand-picks his men and strategizes the takedown of the Harlem drug operation. Roberts is a resourceful cop, and realizes that their typical suspects, the Mafia, are not behind the operation, and eventually discovers Lucas’s involvement through straight detective work.. keeping his ear to the street, observing from plain sight, asking the right questions, making the right alliances with the local police, and above all, practicing patience. He systematically builds his case, and the ever-present tagboard filled with suspect photos gets lots of attention in the movie as he connects the dots. I didn’t have any complaints about Crowe’s performance, but it wasn’t overly impressive either… it was a no-frills, serviceable performance, definitely not in the same league as his work in 3:10 to Yuma or A Beautiful Mind. Still, I found myself rooting for the guy because he’s stacked up against insurmountable odds, tasked with a seemingly impossible puzzle to solve, surrounded by corrupt cops on the take, and lives a personal life that’s circling the drain. He finally pulls it together in the end and nabs Frank Lucas by the book, and we’re treated a thought-provoking last scene with him and Lucas across the table from each other, discussing the morality of each other’s situation.

The supporting cast does a good job as well.. Ted Levine turns in another interesting supporting role as Richie’s superior, and Cuba Gooding Jr is firey and simultaneously charismatic as usual as one of Lucas’s competitors. Armand Assante is a fairly token mob boss that is about what you’d expect. The rest of the cast is mostly rounded out by strong performances from young newcomers that hit the right notes.

The story follows an appropriately logical and calm progression, punctuated by few scenes of violence and conflict. Ridley Scott’s cinematography and direction are observant, understated, and unobtrusive; he allows the story to tell itself. There are a few scenes with artistic flair where Scott lets his skills as a visual stylist shine, but for the most part he dresses the movie in realism, period correctness, and subdued atmosphere. One scene stands out, the obligatory raid and shootout in the cutting shop, which is handled with a mastery that dazzles… I was reminded of the brutal opening scene of Hannibal and the unbelievable violence of Blackhawk Down, both also directed by Ridley Scott. The scene explodes with style and mayhem that is a fantastic visceral payoff to the film’s otherwise understated delivery. It’s the kind of brief indulgence that makes you applaud the director’s restraint, and even further amplifies the effect of that scene.

So overall, a refreshingly straightforward, well-put-together film… not quite what I was expecting but still worth checking out. Strong performances all around, but the real magic is in Denzel’s studied portayal of an all together different kind of crime boss. And, Ridley Scott definitely reasserts himself as the more restrained of the Scott brothers with a cinematic delivery that echoes the deliberate pacing of the story. This is another strong entry for this year of extraordinarly great films.