So Friday was a great movie day for me, during my lunchbreak i watched I Am Legend, and this, one very watchable Ridley Scott film, American Gangster.

In many ways, in my mind, this was just another gangster movie - not that it's a bad thing, because gangster movies are awesome most of the time, as was this one... Thinking of which, i can't think of any crappy gangster movies, except Johnny Dangerously - that was terrible, but also terribly funny!

Now i don't know if i was tired, or it was the two fat people next to me that kept on jammering, or it was the lack of air-conditioning, but i failed to make some necessary observations with regard to the movie making, it was more of the same, nothing new in terms of cinematography, but maybe a second look, a fresh look would turn something up.

Also, there are some needless character development scenes, which you think are going to play a bigger part, but don't really go anywhere, like Crowe's custody battle. Yes, his wife ends it all with a rather emphatic speech about what makes him good or bad, and yes, that might've helped him come to a realisation, but it's nothing new to the viewer. Still, it is intriguing, because you don't know where it's going, and Richie's ultimate turn is surely fuelled by this interchange.

The story is good, but i feel they could've explored a bit more at the end (IE, Richie's ultimate turn, let me explain:

Richie has devoted his life to good, not taking the cash in the car, not accepting bribes, even busting his own FRIENDS for drug abuse et al. So yes, he knows what the right thing to do is.
We see halfway through the movie that he passed the bar examinination and that he's a lawyer now - in the end, he gives up his life of good/hunting the bad guy, and becomes a defense attorney - ultimately protecting bad guys. see? I'd rather have seen the court cases as well.
)
Yes, it is a True story about one of the most notorious gangsters of New York in the history of New York. An interesting thing here is the fact that it takes place in the 1968-1975 era, i think Lucas (Washington) was ultimately convicted in 1976 - the kicker is, he was bigger than the italian crime families put together, and the cops had no idea who he even was. See, racism = ignorance, and that was depicted nicely.

The man was an entrepreneur. I'm sure you'll enjoy his story, just pack in your "I'm gonna sit for more than two hours and concentrate" bum.