Movie Review for American Gangster

Summary: Based on the life of drug-kingpin-turned-informant, Frank Lucas, who grew up in segregated North Carolina where he watched as his cousin was shot by the Klan for looking at a white girl. He eventually made his way to Harlem where he became a heroin kingpin by traveling to Asia's Golden Triangle to make connections, shipping heroin back to the US in the coffins of soldiers killed in Vietnam. He soon made upwards of one million dollars a day in drug sales. Lucas was shadowed by lawman, Richie Roberts, who finally helped bring the kingpin to justice. The two then worked together to expose the crooked cops and foreign nationals who made importing heroin so easy.

                         Reviews of American Gangster
By Kam Williams of AALBC.com (7/0)
            An irresistibly seductive celebration of a monster which will undoubtedly deliver the wrong messa...

By Mike McGranaghan of Aisle Seat (7/0)
            Ridley Scott carefully controls the tone so that we almost feel like a fly on the wall of an era ...

By Tim Brayton of Antagony & Ecstasy (7/0)
            An unmistakably familiar story, but something about its execution here feels fresh anyway.

By Phil Villarreal of Arizona Daily Star (7/0)
            Martin Scorsese will buy the movie's poster and frame it on his bedroom wall.

By Lori Hoffman of Atlantic City Weekly (7/0)
            American Gangster is an interesting movie, but it never reaches the moment when it rises above th...

By Marc Savlov of Austin Chronicle (7/0)
            American Gangster does a crackerjack job at nailing the look and feel of New York City's bad old ...

                         Reviews of American Gangster
By Michael Sragow of Baltimore Sun (7/0)
            Misplaced hero-worship and glibness get in the way of its amazing true story.

By Michael Sragow of Baltimore Sun (7/0)
            Misplaced hero-worship and glibness get in the way of its amazing true story.

By Stella Papamichael of BBC (7/0)
            A guaranteed shot of pure heart-pumping entertainment.

By Mark Keizer of Boxoffice Magazine (7/0)
            American Gangster has the virtue of being very good, certainly one of this year’s best...

By Fred Topel of Can Magazine (7/0)
            Finally, after 12 years, a filmmaker was finally able to recapture the magic of Virtuosity...

By James Mottram of Channel 4 Film (7/0)
            A film that deserves attention, if not your full respect.

                         Reviews of American Gangster
By James Mottram of Channel 4 Film (7/0)
            A film that deserves attention, if not your full respect.

By Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times (7/0)
            ...an engrossing story, told smoothly and well...

By Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times (7/0)
            This is an engrossing story, told smoothly and well, and Russell Crowe's contribution is enormous...

By Peter Rainer of Christian Science Monitor (7/0)
            It's an entertaining pulp pastiche with pretensions.

By Todd Hertz of Christianity Today (7/0)
            Ridley Scott leverages the unique qualities of the story, its nuances of reality, and stellar act...

By Jules Brenner of Cinema Signals (7/0)
            A muscular treat for lovers of all cinema crafts, but compromised by the length and the derivativ...

                         Reviews of American Gangster
By Joshua Tyler of CinemaBlend.com (7/0)
            Two and a half hours is excessive for a film that's barely better than a mildly acceptable divers...

By Roger Tennis of Cinemaclips.com (7/0)
            Thanks to the dynamic stars, "American Gangster" won't get a bad rap and will join the ranks of c...

By Jeff Otto of cinemaobsession.com (7/0)
            American Gangster lives up, if not exceeds, the hype on all fronts.

By James Rocchi of Cinematical (7/0)
            American Gangster isn't bad or poorly-made or unsatisfactory; it's just good enough to make you p...

By James Rocchi of Cinematical (7/0)
            American Gangster isn't bad or poorly-made or unsatisfactory; it's just good enough to make you p...

By Cole Smithey of ColeSmithey.com (7/0)
            Perfectly entertaining and suspenseful.

                         Reviews of American Gangster
By Jeffrey M. Anderson of Combustible Celluloid (7/0)
            Where it fails is in its sense of scale. It's definitely not an epic. And it's not a great film. ...

By Matt Brunson of Creative Loafing (7/0)
            For all its familiar trappings, director Ridley Scott and writer Steven Zaillian invest their tal...

By Sukhdev Sandhu of Daily Telegraph (7/0)
            Scott is something of a romantic at heart. His film is nowhere near as jaded or as hard-bitten as...

By Chris Vognar of Dallas Morning News (7/0)
            Ridley Scott packs the film with period detail and vivid, violent energy reminiscent of high-grad...

By Boo Allen of Denton Record Chronicle (TX) (7/0)
            Well done movie but to what point?

By Peter Paras of E! Online (7/0)
            The beautiful/violent American Gangster has plenty of talent behind the camera, in director Ridle...

                         Reviews of American Gangster
By Peter Paras of E! Online (7/0)
            Washington plays Lucas as the smartest man in the room, and it's a blast to behold...

By Michelle Alexandria of Eclipse Magazine (7/0)
            This is by far the best film of the year with stand out performances from Crowe and Washington. B...

By Erik Childress of eFilmCritic.com (7/0)
            More like a whitewashed blaxploitation effort in the hopes of classing it up without the necessar...

By Peter Sobczynski of eFilmCritic.com (7/0)
            A well-made and reasonably exciting work filled with juicy performances, exciting set-pieces and ...

By Rob Gonsalves of eFilmCritic.com (7/0)
            Solidly performed and occasionally intriguing, but it's yet another strangely hollow offering fro...

By Emanuel Levy of EmanuelLevy.Com (7/0)
            Under Scott's bravura helming, this sprawling saga, combining the best elements of the classic cr...

                         Reviews of American Gangster
By Ian Freer of Empire Magazine (7/0)
            An entertaining romp through familiar cop-and-crim cat-and-mousery, bolstered by strong star turn...

By Vince Koehler of Entertainment Spectrum (7/0)
            This gripping tale has you wanting to know more about Mr. Lucas and his path to fame. I found mys...

By Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly (7/0)
            ...the movie isn't quite enthralling; it's more like the ghost version of a '70s classic.

By Eric D. Snider of EricDSnider.com (7/0)
            Directed with dazzling energy by Ridley Scott.

By Anton Bitel of Eye for Film (6/1)
            It is as though Scott, like his protagonist Frank, has gone back to source, bringing viewers the ...

By Eugene Novikov of Film Blather (7/0)
            Its politics could have muddled and distracted, but instead the presence of a point of view stave...

                         Reviews of American Gangster
By Walter Chaw of Film Freak Central (7/0)
            Things are only as bad as they ever were and there's no life preserver left that's not taking on ...

By Rex Roberts of Film Journal International (7/0)
            The filmmakers know their audience and spin a good story, the cast is wonderfully diverse and eng...

By Stina Chyn of Film Threat (7/0)
            It’s almost completely satisfying.

By Jonathan F. Richards of Film.com (7/0)
            How much truth we get in the movie version is hard to say...nobody much cares if it's gospel, as ...

By Chris Barsanti of filmcritic.com (7/0)
            ...roughly two hours of standard issue cinema...

By Nigel Andrews of Financial Times (6/1)
            Length does not add substance to the drama, even where reality adds weight to the argument.

                         Reviews of American Gangster
By MaryAnn Johanson of Flick Filosopher (7/0)
            [B]rings together Crowe and Washington, both of whom stalk the screen, as they always do, as if T...

By Rob Vaux of Flipside Movie Emporium (7/0)
            Scott's auteurial stamp lends the film a badly needed sense of distinction.

By Bill Clark of FromTheBalcony (7/0)
            American Gangster is good old-fashioned knuckles-to-the-jaw entertainment.

By Jeffrey Lyles of Gazette (MD) (7/0)
            definitely a case of a film failing to reach its full potential.

By Peter Bradshaw of Guardian [UK] (7/0)
            Here's a startlingly original true-life story told in an oddly unoriginal way. And that attempt a...

By Kirk Honeycutt of Hollywood Reporter (7/0)
            The movie is smooth and smart enough to attract a significant audience beyond the considerable fa...

                         Reviews of American Gangster
By Amy Biancolli of Houston Chronicle (7/0)
            It's a much better film than nine-tenths of what's out there on any given Friday, and if you're a...

By Stax of IGN Movies (7/0)
            The movie truly is about an "American Gangster;" it's a business movie about unbridled capitalism...

By Anthony Quinn of Independent (7/0)
            Ridley Scott's American Gangster offers both belated history-lesson and demented hero-worship, an...

By Kevin Williamson of Jam! Movies (7/0)
            One of this year's most accomplished entertainments.

By Bob Bloom of Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN) (7/0)
            American Gangster is as impersonal and clinical as a police report. It lacks fire, passion and th...

By Kyle Smith of KyleSmithOnline.com (6/1)
            Say hello to my leetle M.B.A! It's the black Scarface. But American Gangster is an economic educa...

                         Reviews of American Gangster
By J. Hoberman of L.A. Weekly (7/0)
            Ambitious as American Gangster is, it’s well suited to Denzel Washington’s particular star qualit...

By Robert Roten of Laramie Movie Scope (7/0)
            The acting is great by everyone. Veteran director Ridley Scott puts it all together in a polished...

By Bob Strauss of Los Angeles Daily News (7/0)
            It's never less than seat-edge suspenseful.

By Kenneth Turan of Los Angeles Times (7/0)
            It takes nerve to call a film American Gangster -- But once you see this finely made and richly s...

By Kenneth Turan of Los Angeles Times (7/0)
            ...finely made and richly satisfying film...

By Mark Dujsik of Mark Reviews Movies (7/0)
            A finely weaved tapestry of absolute corruption and its effects on the key players and those unlu...

                         Reviews of American Gangster
By Pete Hammond of Maxim (7/0)
            It marks a return to the lost art of true storytelling, every bit as epic as 'The Godfather' and ...

By Matt Pais of Metromix.com (7/0)
            First-rate visually but otherwise shooting blanks.

By Matt Pais of Metromix.com (7/0)
            First-rate visually but otherwise shooting blanks.

By Duane Dudek of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (7/0)
            A cultivated and more temperate version of Scarface.

By Colin Covert of Minneapolis Star Tribune (7/0)
            A strikingly photogenic but lethargic cops and crimelords yarn, it gives us a number of formidabl...

By Kevin N. Laforest of Montreal Film Journal (7/0)
            Superfly vs. Serpico!

                         Reviews of American Gangster
By Ken Hanke of Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) (7/0)
            I think it's something inherently lacking in American Gangster that keeps me from admiring it as ...

By Mark Ramsey of MovieJuice! (7/0)
            Russell is, indeed, a cop. And, miraculously, he works for the same police sergeant that Monk wor...

By Mark Ramsey of MovieJuice! (7/0)
            Russell is, indeed, a cop. And, miraculously, he works for the same police sergeant that Monk wor...

By Kurt Loder of MTV (7/0)
            If nothing else, American Gangster exposes Brian De Palma's Scarface -- the most popular drug sag...

By David Edelstein of New York Magazine (7/0)
            Their ambition is out there. But for all the sprawl, American Gangster feels secondhand. It’s lik...

By Andrew Sarris of New York Observer (7/0)
            One must applaud American Gangster as the kind of socko entertainment many people thought Hollywo...

                         Reviews of American Gangster
By Lou Lumenick of New York Post (7/0)
            ...one of the year's best movies...

By Armond White of New York Press (7/0)
            American Gangster’s simultaneous celebration of crime, punishment and upward mobility should be t...

By Manohla Dargis of New York Times (7/0)
            ...a seductive package, crammed with all the on-screen and off-screen talent that big-studio mone...

By David Denby of New Yorker (7/0)
            It’s Super Fly -- which also had a drug-dealer hero -- without the cartoon cruddiness and the put...

By Prairie Miller of NewsBlaze (6/1)
            American Gangster's equal opportunity bone crunching pits real life black druglord kingpin Lucas ...

By Prairie Miller of NewsBlaze (6/1)
            American Gangster's equal opportunity bone crunching pits real life black druglord kingpin Lucas ...

                         Reviews of American Gangster
By David Ansen of Newsweek (7/0)
            For all its grit, style and atmosphere, Gangster never sweeps you away. It has neither the lurid ...

By David Ansen of Newsweek (7/0)
            For all its grit, style and atmosphere, Gangster never sweeps you away. It has neither the lurid ...

By Jeffrey Westhoff of Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL) (7/0)
            A gritty 1970s thriller made for today, re-creating the past to find lessons for the present.

By Brian Orndorf of OhmyNews.com (7/0)
            Denzel Washington has become the John Wayne of his generation: perfecting his one acting face of ...

By Frank Swietek of One Guy's Opinion (7/0)
            It's not a bad movie, just not the classic one it's obviously striving to be...should prove solid...

By Tasha Robinson of Onion AV Club (7/0)
            Normally, Scott loves his flash-bang setpieces, but he proves equally adept at low-key verisimili...

                         Reviews of American Gangster
By Corey Hall of Orlando Weekly (7/0)
            a pulpy mash-up of Serpico and Black Caesar -- and there ain’t nothing wrong with that.

By Fiore Mastracci of Outtakes With Fiore (7/0)
            It offers a sad commentary on a society that celebrates mediocrity.

By Dennis Schwartz of Ozus' World Movie Reviews (7/0)
            It all seemed like the usual big-budgeted and star-packed middlebrow liberal Hollywood gangster ...

By Jeanne Aufmuth of Palo Alto Weekly (7/0)
            Ridley Scott pumps up the volume with a gritty, glitzy valentine to the anarchic American drug wa...

By Carrie Rickey of Philadelphia Inquirer (7/0)
            Both he [Washington] and Ruby Dee, as his mother, give Oscar-caliber performances.

By Sean Burns of Philadelphia Weekly (7/0)
            Even a stale old tune can sound great if it's covered properly...

                         Reviews of American Gangster
By Jon Popick of Planet Sick-Boy (7/0)
            Heat, Part II

By Bill Gibron of PopMatters (5/2)
            American Gangster is an oddly one note movie made more or less grandiose by Ridley Scott's insati...

By Cynthia Fuchs of PopMatters (7/0)
            As corny as Frank and Richie's relationship may appear, it returns again to the movie's central p...

By Rob Humanick of Projection Booth (7/0)
            Frank Lucas is angry. You won't like him when he's angry.

By James Kendrick of Q Network Film Desk (7/0)
            an intriguing crime saga that is long on atmosphere and short on momentum

By Linda Cook of Quad City Times (Davenport, IA) (7/0)
            The life an actual drug lord is the basis of "American Gangster," which is an adults-only charact...

                         Reviews of American Gangster
By Mark R. Leeper of rec.arts.movies.reviews (7/0)
            There is more to enjoy than to admire in the filmcraft of AMERICAN GANGSTER. This is an enterta...

By David Nusair of Reel Film Reviews (7/0)
            ...generally possesses the feel of a rough cut that's in dire need of trimming...

By Mark Pfeiffer of Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema (7/0)
            As a showcase for Washington and Crowe, American Gangster does not disappoint.

By Laura Clifford of Reeling Reviews (7/0)
            ...plays like Serpico by way of Scarface if Tony Montana was an accountant.

By Robin Clifford of Reeling Reviews (7/0)
            ...a bloated crime tome that meanders far too much before it gets to its point. In addition, I di...

By Frank Wilkins of ReelTalk Movie Reviews (7/0)
            Brilliant acting by Crowe and Washington plus Scott's near flawless direction, make 'American Gan...

                         Reviews of American Gangster
By James Berardinelli of ReelViews (7/0)
            Washington rules the screen. His portrayal is one of many things that elevates this film to the l...

By James Berardinelli of ReelViews (7/0)
            ...there's an overall absence of dramatic tension.

By Diana Saenger of ReviewExpress.com (7/0)
            Suffering from a weak first act, the film really hits full steam in one eclipsed moment when Fran...

By Peter Travers of Rolling Stone (7/0)
            Call it the black Scarface or the Harlem Godfather or just one hell of an exciting movie, but the...

By Carla Meyer of Sacramento Bee (7/0)
            American Gangster is 2 1/2 hours of pleasure with a guilty aftertaste.

By Jim Lane of Sacramento News & Review (7/0)
            Once we ignore that nagging sense that American Gangster is sidestepping the best parts of the st...

                         Reviews of American Gangster
By Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com (7/0)
            As a piece of storytelling -- built on the foundation of a great story -- it's an epic that's bee...

By Jean Lowerison of San Diego Metropolitan (7/0)
            Do we need yet another film about drug dealers? No, especially not one that takes 157 minutes to ...

By Mick LaSalle of San Francisco Chronicle (7/0)
            ... a respectable second-tier entry...

By Eric Melin of Scene-Stealers.com (7/0)
            Scott presents the mob leader as a beaten-down minority who finally gets his due, but not without...

By Gina Carbone of Seacoast Newspapers (NH/Maine) (7/0)
            American Gangster is a great title: clean, slick, commercial, a perfect fit for the product.

By Sean McBride of Sean the Movie Guy (7/0)
            a rock-solid crime story, bloat and all.

                         Reviews of American Gangster
By William Arnold of Seattle Post-Intelligencer (7/0)
            ...a riveting piece of movie storytelling...

By John Hartl of Seattle Times (7/0)
            Scott guided Crowe to an Oscar in Gladiator, and once more he brings out the actor's vulnerable s...

By Rich Cline of Shadows on the Wall (7/0)
            Impeccable production design and searing performances. But the tale unfolds in a superficial way ...

By Nick Schager of Slant Magazine (7/0)
            Not only is American Gangster dumb as a rock, but it's also far too convinced of its import to be...

By Dana Stevens of Slate (7/0)
            What should have been a clash of two opposing moral universes instead comes off as a wan buddy fl...

By Brian Tallerico of The Deadbolt (7/0)
            You'll admire American Gangster, but it never gets under your skin or sticks in your memory. It's...

                         Reviews of American Gangster
By Andrew Wright of The Stranger (Seattle, WA) (7/0)
            Everyone involved seems to be coasting ... Scott's gift for composition and the occasional flash ...

By Matthew Turner of thelondonpaper (7/0)
            An intricately woven account of drug trafficking and police corruption in Harlem in the early 197...

By Dustin Putman of TheMovieBoy.com (7/0)
            Strictly paint-by-numbers filmmaking any way you slice it, and not even the individually riveting...

By Dustin Putman of TheMovieBoy.com (7/0)
            Strictly paint-by-numbers filmmaking any way you slice it, and not even the individually riveting...

By Derek Malcolm of This is London (7/0)
            Sharp, observant and true to the period, the film-making is, on the whole, less determined to sho...

By Derek Malcolm of This is London (7/0)
            Sharp, observant and true to the period, the film-making is, on the whole, less determined to sho...

                         Reviews of American Gangster
By Richard Schickel of TIME Magazine (7/0)
            An intelligent, well-made and seductive movie.

By Jonathan Crocker of Time Out (4/3)
            Like much of his oeuvre, Scott’s scaled-up movie is bigger than life – and lesser for it. But whi...

By Joshua Rothkopf of Time Out New York (5/2)
            Ridley Scott is the weak link; he’s never made a film this for-hire. Even Scott’s signature miste...

By Joshua Rothkopf of Time Out New York (5/2)
            Ridley Scott is the weak link; he’s never made a film this for-hire. Even Scott’s signature miste...

By Wendy Ide of Times [UK] (7/0)
            A cocksure upstart that has swaggered onto the scene, confident that it can take its place at the...

By Tony Medley of tonymedley.com (7/0)
            Despite reprehensibly painting the charming real Frank White as admirable when in fact he was a c...

                         Reviews of American Gangster
By Maitland McDonagh of TV Guide's Movie Guide (7/0)
            Its vivid sense of place and time make it compulsively watchable, even at a running time of two a...

By Claudia Puig of USA Today (7/0)
            ...probably the best gangster crime drama of the year.

By Matthew Turner of ViewLondon (7/0)
            American Gangster tells a fascinating story with impeccable production design and two powerhouse ...

By J. Hoberman of Village Voice (7/0)
            Ambitious as American Gangster is, it's well suited to Denzel Washington's particular star qualit...

By Willie Waffle of WaffleMovies.com (7/0)
            Denzel and Crowe sounds like a showdown for the ages, but it's just a solid film instead of being...

By Jeffrey Chen of Window to the Movies (7/0)
            Sure we've seen this sort of thing before. But every time we see it, we're entertained.

                         Reviews of American Gangster
By Daniel M. Kimmel of Worcester Telegram & Gazette (7/0)
            The two and a half hour running time speeds by without a hitch.

By Frank Ochieng of World Voice News (7/0)
            American Gangster dares to look in the menacing mirror and reflect the scabrous priorities that d...

By Susan Granger of www.susangranger.com (7/0)
            Well-crafted but eerily familiar....while they were making it, the crew dubbed it, "Superfly meet...

By John Beifuss of Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) (3/5) Login Required (Login Required)
            May be the first underworld epic in which a drug kingpin lectures a subordinate about the signifi...

By Bill Goodykoontz of Arizona Republic (3/4) No reference
            American Gangster shoots for epic stature and misses, but Washington hits the mark from start to ...

By Christy Lemire of Associated Press (3/4) No reference
            Washington, as real-life heroin kingpin Frank Lucas, and Crowe, as detective Richie Roberts, are ...

                         Reviews of American Gangster
By Rob Thomas of Capital Times (Madison, WI) (3/4) No reference
            I expected that "Gangster" would pay homage to films like "The French Connection," "Superfly," "S...

By Michael Phillips of Chicago Tribune (3/4) No reference
            ...a big, juicy 1970s period piece...

By Jeff Vice of Deseret News, Salt Lake City (3/4) No reference
            Director Ridley Scott and screenwriter Steve Zaillian try to develop each character equally, thou...

By Robert W. Butler of Kansas City Star (3/4) No reference
            Unlike the Godfather saga, what you see here is all you get.

By Josh Bell of Las Vegas Weekly (3/4) No reference
            If it's not Scott's Godfather, it's certainly as close as he's ever going to get.

By Rene Rodriguez of Miami Herald (3/4) No reference
            What American Gangster does have -- what makes it such a commanding, exhilarating movie -- is a c...

                         Reviews of American Gangster
By Michael Elliott of Movie Parables (3/4) No reference
            It is only when [Crowe and Washington] have their one big scene together that we realize what we'...

By Jan Stuart of Newsday (3/4) No reference
            As with an earlier star who fed off career criminals, Humphrey Bogart, there is always something ...

By John P. McCarthy of ReelTalk Movie Reviews (3/4) No reference
            Too low-key to seize hold of the imagination, 'American Gangster' is divided against itself, styl...

By John P. McCarthy of ReelTalk Movie Reviews (3/4) No reference
            Too low-key to seize hold of the imagination, 'American Gangster' is divided against itself, styl...

By Greg Maki of Star-Democrat (Easton, MD) (3/4) No reference
            Like Lucas, American Gangster isn't perfect, but it finds what it needs to do, not only to succee...

By Neil Smith of Total Film (3/4) No reference
            Scott’s best film since Gladiator is a classy cops ’n robbers thriller where the latter outclasse...

                         Reviews of American Gangster
By Prairie Miller of WBAI Radio (3/4) No reference
            With the film opening just on the other side of Halloween, director Ridley Scott as sly screen pr...

By Lawrence Toppman of Charlotte Observer (3/4) Not Reachable
            The meal's perfectly edible but falls short of delicious.

By Harvey S. Karten of Compuserve (3/4) Not Reachable
            Ridley Scott deftly contrasts the character of his two principals, demonstrating that the drug un...

By Mary F. Pols of Contra Costa Times (3/4) Not Reachable
            Crowe and Washington uphold their usual high standards while bringing a fascinating story to life...

By Chris Hewitt (St. Paul) of St. Paul Pioneer Press (3/4) Not Reachable
            [Ridley Scott] wants to make a Godfather-style epic, and he doesn't have the horses -- or the sto...

By Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone of TheMovieChicks.com (6/1) Not Reachable
            If a movie is going to be this long, it needs to really capture your attention and hold on... tha...

Movie Distributors
Universal Pictures Distribution

Production Companies
Scott Free Productions
Imagine Entertainment

Movie Studios
Universal Pictures