American Gangster is based on the real life story of Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), the number one importer of heroin into Harlem in the 1970s. Frank decides the best way to make a profit is to get rid of the middle man and deal direct with the source in South East Asia. The film follows Lucas’ rise in the underworld and the attempts of Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) to break his hold on New York.

Ridley Scott proves again that he’s a fine director no matter what period he chooses. It’s shot uncompromisingly and leaves no doubt to the kind of damage that can be done by heroin. He doesn’t lose control over a mammoth cast and keeps the focus on Lucas and Roberts with a steady eye. Washington and Crowe are pitted against each other extremely well without either really getting the upper hand.

There’s no doubting the 1970s America that’s shown in this movie. There is a real sense that New York continues on either side of the camera and we’re being treated to a snapshot. Partly that comes down to the set design but also costume designer Janty Yates (who one an Oscar with Gladiator) turns out another fine piece of work.

I thought Josh Brolin pulled out another good piece of acting as the crooked cop, Trupo. Add this to his performance in No Country for Old Men and he seems to be hitting the right notes. It’ll be interesting to see how he does as George W. Bush in Oliver Stone’s ‘W’.

As far as the story goes there was a sense that I’d seen it all before. The crooked cops, the valiant do-gooder, the violent king-pin. It might be a hangover from Washington’s role in Training Day or that there isn’t really a spectacular scene. There’s nothing wrong with a solid piece of story telling but I think this film needed something to jolt the audience out of their seats.

I definitely found myself flagging somewhere around the 2 hour mark. It’s not so much that I was losing interest but once it became apparent where the story was going there wasn’t enough substance to make me want to stick around. It’s a shame but I came away feeling that it was just a little bit too long.

There is an alternative ending that comes with the DVD but it’s nothing to get excited about – it’s an extra five minutes that was rightly left out of the cinematic release. With the normal version at over 2 and a half hours I didn’t try and track down the extra 18 minutes of footage in the extended version.

There are and will be better gangster movies than this but it’s certainly entertaining enough if you have longer legs that me. I don’t know how accurate the real life story is portrayed but it is a well worked flashback to the 1970s.