Product Description

Ridley Scott (Spy Game)'s American Gangster chronicles the life of a Harlem drug lord (Denzel Washington) and the cop (Russell Crowe) who tried to bring him to justice.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #194 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-03-10
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English, Polish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 169 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
A slow burning, yet entirely gripping, mobster film, American Gangster pits Denzel Washington's Frank Lucas against Russell Crowe's law enforcer Richie Roberts. Spread over a necessarily prolonged running time, their story is then brutally, expertly, told.

And while American Gangster isn't in the league of prime Scorsese and Coppolla classics (such as Goodfellas and The Godfather), it's the nearest we've come in quite some time to something of that ilk. It's all based on a true story, which does mean you need to forgive it some of its obvious narrative conventions, yet this also lends it a gravitas that the film eagerly makes the most of.

It's great too to see British director Ridley Scott tackling meatier material again. This is the man, after all, who gave us Blade Runner, Alien and Gladiator, and he duly delivers with American Gangster. His finest work it isn't, but an engrossing, explosive and hard-as-nails drama it absolutely is.

What's more, American Gangster is powered by two of the finest leading man working in Hollywood right now, and it's terrific to see Washington and Crowe on top form here. And while in cinematic terms it's hardly a film that treads new ground, it's nonetheless a proper, grown-up and engrossing movie, and a very good one at that. --Jon Foster

Customer Reviews

Wow!
Simply outstanding film. Brilliantly acted, not only by Denzel Washington and Russel Crowe, but some excellent support, particualry in Josh Brolin. An amazing story, a real must for any film fan.

Over Hyped and Terrible
For those expecting a film in the Mafia footprints of Goodfellas, Casino and The Godfather trilogy prepare to be bitterly disappointed. A disjointed film with poor character development, stilted dialogue and unbelievable manufactured plots. For example how does Lucas have Army connections in Vietnam who are happy to ship huge amounts of heroin without any questions or visible financial inducements? How can he just call up these contacts at the drop of a hat from a phonebooth without any reference to the time differences? These silly scenes just add to the overall mish mash quality of the film. Add to this overly dark cinematography and hard to hear dialogue, that needs constant adjustment to the volume and brightness and that leads to heavier and heavier use of the rewind button to actually grasp what is being said.

Ridley Scott - go and have a lie down and wonder where it all went wrong.........

american gangster- rubbish
I got this video via a recommendation, was disappointed, thought it was very slow, and only started to get interesting about half an hour before the end, to sum it up a load of rubbish,only consolation, i got it for a fiver from amazon, and didnt pay full price.