American Gangster [Blu-Ray] [Region Free] (English audio)

Great cast .Denzel Washington and Josh Brolin make it a gripping film

Denzile Washington is his usual self an amazing actor, the story is about an actual gangster who bought drugs on a vast scale from asia, he learned from the in gangster world. Taken from a true story, very good film.

Wow. After a glut of mediocre movies, how satisfying to find an intelligent, superbly shot and edited movie that works on several levels, and telling a true story to boot. Denzel Washington plays Frank Lucas, the Harlem drug lord who started as driver and general right hand man to the previous drug King of Harlem. When his boss dies, Lucas brings a business ethic - capitalist thinking that any business school would be proud of, to the business. Rebuilding the drug trade without relying on the middle men or the Mafia, and undercutting the competition, he created a brand name - a business success story as it were. He uses a sound business model to beat the previously untoppled opposition. If he is presented as a superb businessman, we also see him as a violent man, almost a thug, when `necessary'. Make no mistake - this is not a film about action scenes, but where there is violence (and that means from the very first scene) it is stark and brutal., and not for the fainthearted. Russell Crowe on the other hand plays a cop - and in 70's Harlem, a real oddity - he's an honest cop, a man of integrity in his job. Being an honest cop means he is the only one in a position to head up a new task force, hand picked by Crowe, to make major arrests to stem the drug flow into the city - and he sets his sights on Lucas' organisation. What's fascinating about the movie is the comparison of the two men. In the same way `Heat' had flawed characters that refused to be stereotyped into pure good and pure bad, we equally have realistic characters here that make you uncomfortable. We admire Lucas's business acumen and honesty in his relationship, and find ourselves trying to excuse his bursts of violence. And on the other hand we admire the integrity of Crowe's cop, handing in a million bucks to do `the right thing', and ultimately confronting corruption in the cops (as exemplified in Josh Brolin's caharacter) even when it means alienating himself from his colleagues... and yet at the same time his marriage is a mess as he is a serial adulterer.. so is he a man if integrity when he can't bring the same uprightness into his marriage..? His wife feels the very pain as a victim of dishonesty of her husband at home, that he seeks so hard to stamp out at work. It's a fascinating character study that refuses to airbrush out flaws, but those very same dichotomies in the individuals make the ending so much more understandable, and indeed, plausible. Beyond these two, there are very few niggling problems - the wives are not well written and although important in the men's lives we never get a feel of what really makes them tick. The length may put some people off - but I watched the extended version, which was 2 hours 38 minutes, and it flew past for me. The highlight of the movie is probably the moment, as in Heat [Blu-ray][Region Free ], when the two men meet and have their head to head. The dénouement turns out not to be a Scarface (2 Disc Special Edition) [DVD ] orgy of violence, but something quite unexpected (unless you know the story already). This movie passed me by at the cinema for some reason, and what a shame. For this is intelligent moviemaking for adults, multilayered fare to stimulate discussion and thought. It's not an easy watch - the violence is sudden, strong and senseless, there is nudity, sex and violence, and the characters are not cuddly white hat and dark hat ciphers. Instead we have a morally murky movie that actually tells a layered story, a story examining both character and capitalism . It's a `Heat'-like period meld of ` Serpico [DVD ]' and a Harlem ` The Godfather I [DVD ]', depending whose viewpoint you favour in the movie, and a welcome intelligent addition to the period crime genre.

Awesome movie

This violent drama, from director Ridley Scott, is a modern production covering vintage subject-matter, namely the rise (and fall) of the New York real-life enforcer turned 'drug-lord' Frank Lucas from the late 60s to early 90s. To balance things up (and justify the near 3-hour running time of the extended edition) the biopic also follows, in almost equal measure, the progress of loner police narcotics detective Richie Roberts as juggles his attempts to bring to book those involved in New York organised crime with part-time educational activities in order to become a fully-qualified lawyer. Whilst there are significant detail differences in the 'story', overall it is not unlike the earlier classic film 'The French Connection' in the sense that we have a policeman who becomes almost infatuated with tracking-down a single 'personality' in involved in local illegal drug dealings. It is certainly not like other 'gangster' movie classics such as 'Goodfellas' or 'The Godfather', despite many reviews mentioning them in the same breath as this film, if for no other reason than those other classics focussed entirely on the criminals and their personal lives. The biggest similarity between this film and the FC is that the respective gangsters are both ruthless yet almost classy in their demeanour and the policemen are both rather shambling yet strangely effective; the one difference being that Richards is (almost) completely 'legitimate' and honest, as well us getting to know a lot about his personal life (eg failed marriage, law education), whereas 'Popeye' in the FC often transgresses and all we ever see of him is while he is 'on the job'. I already owned the extended edition on DVD (which like the Blu-ray also allows you to see the original theatrical cut) in Region 1 form which comprised 3-discs (and a unique book casing+colour book); as far as I can see this Blu-ray replicates the disc content completely, so you get it all on just the one platter ! Unfortunately, whilst very acceptable in all respects, what you also get is the same standard of presentation with no perceptible improvement between playback of an upscaled DVD and this Blu-ray; I really could not detect any difference at all, which probably shows how good the DVD already was, as well the fact that it was not possible to improve..... I've added a photo of the back of the box, which details the disc specification/extras, to the main Amazon page for this Blu-ray. The film plot (to repeat, based on the real-life characters) essentially involves the evolution of Lucas and how he expands his power by virtue of a direct, novel, way of procuring/importing/distributing heroin to his local customers. What we also see is how Richards goes about his attempts to enforce the law, as well as how he ties in his legal credentials - ultimately a truly staggering way. Lucas is methodical and calculating - but so is Richards, but ultimately his honesty marks him out as being different from the majority remainder of the narcotics policeman (which the film also covers in some detail) who are corrupt and almost as bad as their prey; both Lucas and Richards are 'different' - one from the rival local Mafia and the other from his colleagues.... The depicted violence is often extreme, without being overtly gory but along with the portrayal of illicit drug-taking shows why an '18' viewing certificate is applied. The period production-values are excellent and perhaps suggests why the presentation does not come across as 'modern' in terms of sharpness/clarity. Finally, the lead actors (Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe) are, as more often than not, very good and convincing - Crowe in particular manages to let you forget the Hollywood personality he is and instead concentrate on his characterisation (which bares some similarity to his earlier marvellous performance in the similarly excellent drama (The Insider'). Scott, again as he usually does, achieves great success with his direction and production; the long running-time of the film never really becomes an issue as he crafts events to unfold and evolve in such a captivating way. As mentioned earlier, after direct comparison between the two sources, as acceptable as the presentation is and comprehensive as the extras are nothing is better than already available on DVD. The picture is soft and grainy (intentional I'm sure) with a level of sharpness suiting the period be covered; the audio might get a 'boost' to English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 but the soundtrack didn't really need it. The Blu-ray is only an upgrade as the extras include those not on the UK 2-disc DVD, so I think that can be the only justification to move from DVD to Blu-ray. For first-time buyers who have an HD setup, getting the Blu-ray is an obvious choice but don't think you're watching the film a better way then DVD owners who can upscale playback ! The only proviso I have is that as I've yet to watch all the extras the Blu-ray "U-Control" picture-in-picture video commentary (Unrated Extended version only) may be unique to this disc, but Universal do have a habit of simply re-hashing the already present audio commentary+featurettes content to populate that feature so don't get too excited.... So, this film should not disappointment anyone who enjoys a good, but violent, drama; it is well produced/acted and is presented perfectly adequately on Blu-ray. The extended cut and extras make the package attractive but the HD presentation is no better than the DVD, so an upgrade is not really justified unless the small number of additional extras are really needed.

I have a relatively large soft spot for American Gangster. The combination of Scott, Crowe and Washington, the staggeringly excellent story and the stunning authenticity really bring this vivid, gritty and increasingly dark story to life. This specific release of American Gangster presents the viewer with a choice of the theatrical release, or the extended version. While the extended version comes in at nearly 3 hours in length, I personally wouldn't have it any other way. Fans of Ridley Scott will appreciate the length, and I've no doubt will enjoy it to the very end. The story sees disgraced cop ( Russell Crowe) Richie Roberts indefinitely struggling with his current predicament. A failing marriage and his late night law-school lessons are wrecking his life, and to top that off, for being an honest guy in the force, he becomes hated by his co-workers. Steaming along the same, intertwining, rich story is the character of Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), a former enforcer turned heroin empire kingpin. In essence, the story is a classic 'rise and fall' gangster epic, with the classic 'good cop on a mission' mix thrown in. It may not be an entirely original concept, and as always we always have to question the credibility of 'Based on a true story', but American Gangster is truly a great film, pulled off by some really terrific actors. It's always a good thing to see Ridley Scott bringing out a new film, but coupled with the team of Washington and Crowe, a sheer treat is undoubtedly in store.

Excellent film

From beginning to end, had me shouting at the tv.