American Gangster [Blu-ray]

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DVD details

Actor: Armand Assante, Josh Brolin, Kevin Corrigan, Ruby Dee, Russell Crowe
Brand: UNI DIST CORP. (MCA)
Cinematographer: Harris Savides
Composer: Marc Streitenfeld
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 335 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-10-14
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Universal Studios

DVD Reviews of American Gangster [Blu-ray]

DVD Review: Another Gangster Movie Greats
Summary: 5 Stars

I love Russle Crowe and Denzel Washington together they make an awesome impact in this great Ganster Movie, and on blue ray its just outstanding to view and make a part of your great movie collection

DVD Review: Dynamic true story
Summary: 4 Stars

At first, because it was rated R, I wasn't going to see it, but because it was based on a true story, I thought I'd try it. The opening scene almost made me shut it off, but I hung in there since I enjoy Denzel Washington and Russell Crow (very convincing performances). I was not dissappointed. What struck me was the contrast in the two main characters - Frank Lucas (Denzel), the suave drug dealer/businssman and Det. Richie Roberts (Russell), the humble, extremely honest cop. I grew up in NY during this time and vaguely remember hearing about that. It's a good drama, the era of the late 60s - early 70s was recreated perfectly.

DVD Review: Denzel Goes Gangsta'!!!
Summary: 2 Stars

I thought it started off really slow and thought it would never pick up. Finally, later it did. There are some parts that reminded me of 'The Godfather' The parts I liked were when there was gun-fights and some hot nude black girls help with the heroine. I probably wouldn't recommend AMERICAN GANGSTER!!!

DVD Review: All I can is Denzel, Denzel, Denzel!!
Summary: 5 Stars

I maybe bias...lol but I love Denzel and this movie.

Denzel and Russel Crowe bring the characters to life in this movie. It is action packed crime thriller that will keep you hanging on from the moments the credits come on until they go off.

DVD Review: Heroin's Horatio Alger
Summary: 3 Stars

American Gangster. Emphasis on "American." This is a Horatio Alger story, Harlem-style -- the rise and fall of a drug lord who bests the competition with old-fashioned MBA tactics: a product twice as good at half the price.

The entrepreneur is Frank Lucas, played by wolfishly lean-and-hungry Denzel Washington. His product is "Blue Magic," heroin smuggled to the States from Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War years. In the august American tradition, Lucas manifests his destiny with a little get-up-and-go, innovative marketing/distribution tactics, name-branding, and ends by establishing a business monolith on the streets of New York.

"American Gangster" would make an interesting (if near unwatchable) double-feature with "There Will Be Blood." Both are gruesome, indicting explorations of the American Dream skewed, twisted, and transformed into the American Nightmare. Both examine the Darwinian nature ("red in tooth and claw") of American capitalism -- kill or be killed, survival-of-the-fittest, last man standing. Both feature repulsive yet hypnotic antiheroes whose ambition is matched by their amorality. Both movies are long, violent, and bludgeoning.

Unfortunately, "Gangster" lacks "Blood's" obsessive focus on its main character. Washington is magnetic as the cool but volatile Lucas, while his costar Russell Crowe gets stuck with the perfunctory part of dogged detective on Lucas' trail, the one good cop in a corrupt city. This parallel storyline adds unnecessary poundage to an already flabby script, especially the sub-subplot involving divorce proceedings with the requisitely long-suffering wife. (Perhaps Denzel is getting revenge. Remember a movie from years back called "Virtuosity"? Probably not, but if you do it's only because a young, relatively unknown Aussie named Russell Crowe stole the movie blind from its supposed star, Denzel. Now it's Denzel's turn to slow-burn as the bad guy.)

The viewer has to wade through a whole lot of muck to arrive at the big showdown between Russell and Denzel (I mean, Richie Roberts and Frank Lucas). It's almost worth the wait. Their scenes together have a wit and energy the rest of movie lacks. There's even a suggestion of redemption in the Lucas character who, when Richie asks him if he'd like a drink, answers with a grin, "Holy water." It's too little, too late. The whole movie could have used a sprinkling.

Description of American Gangster [Blu-ray]

IN 1970S AMERICA, A DETECTIVE WORKS TO BRING DOWN THE DRUG EMPIRE OF FRANK LUCAS, A HEROIN KINGPIN FROM MANHATTAN, WHO IS SMUGGLING THE DRUG INTO THE COUNTRY FROM THE FAR EAST.

Ridley Scott puts on his "sweeping saga" gameface again, this time not for the sci-fi vistas of Blade Runner or the ancient world of Gladiator but for an urban epic. American Gangster gives the story of Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), a real-life Harlem crime lord who built an empire on Southeast Asian heroin in the 1970s. Running parallel to Lucas's somewhat standard story is the investigation led by a persistent New Jersey cop, Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe). Roberts is a more interesting character than Lucas--too honest for his own good, unlucky in his personal life--and this kind of character, easily patronized by others, fits Crowe like a polyester shirt. Scott's tendency to hit his points square on the noggin is much in evidence here, including the typecasting of the supporting roles and the predictable Serpico atmosphere of the whole thing. (And speaking of supporting actors, the film needs more Chiwetel Ejiofor, whose role as a Lucas sidekick feels cut down.) It succeeds as a kind of chewy entertainment, fueled by the presence of two big stars working their muscles. Both Washington and Crowe look pretty brawny here. --Robert Horton

Stills from American Gangster (Click for larger image)

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