AMERICAN GANGSTER at THE STRADDLER
The Straddler offers a lengthy essay on Ridley Scott’s American Gangster:
"American Gangster illuminates in its failure. Earnest and workmanlike in its effort to earn a place among the venerated films in its genre, it does not succeed. A better than average film in terms of the average film — a "B" perhaps; three out of four stars — it is neither of the first two Godfather movies, nor is it the most recent Scarface, nor is it Goodfellas, nor is it any number of other "classic" manifestations of the pathology known as the American gangster film."
…
"Like a new sports stadium that has been sedulously built, with an abundance of cash and the distilled thoughts of focus-group participants, to resemble an old sports stadium, there is a disquieting soullessness to American Gangster. As we watch the film connect its dots, we wonder what it is trying to convince us of. It is not incumbent upon a film to convince an audience of anything, but we cannot help but feel that this movie is trying to convince us of something. But what? The answer comes to us eventually: American Gangster is trying to convince us that it is a great American gangster film."
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That is quite disappointing. It was on my list of things to see…I do not (however) support art that sniffs of triteness or coming from a vantage point of trying to be the next big blockbuster. The other films you mention became classics organically on their on merit.