DVD Review: American Gangster

This won't be a typical movie review, as we already have a pair of very fine American Gangster analysis logged right here at this very blog. (Rocchi didn't like it as much as I did.) But since this very popular movie is hitting DVD in a 2-disc "extended edition," I figured it might be worth a brief overview, just so the fans know what they're in for.

As far as the film itself is concerned, I dig it. American Gangster is hardly the newest story under the sun, but it's got three really great things in its corner: It's directed by Ridley Scott and written by Steve Zaillian, it's based on a rather fascinating true-life story, and it stars big-time movie stars like Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. It tells the tale of (yes) an American gangster who (independently!) rose to power in the '70's New York drug scene; he did so by selling the finest smack on the streets, which came direct from Vietnam ... and was transported inside (occupied) coffins.

So while it's not exactly Scorsese, American Gangster is a fine crime film indeed. I'm a little surprised it only got two Oscar nominations, to be honest. I'm talking about the theatrical cut, which is a well-directed, visually impressive, and entirely captivating crime story. The longer version? Yeah. Not nearly as good, and I suspect its inclusion on the DVD was more a matter of marketing than anything else.

Where Ridley Scott is concerned, director's cuts are sometimes great (Gladiator, Blade Runner, Legend), sometimes novel (Alien, Black Hawk Down), and sometimes pointless (Kingdom of Heaven), and I'd have to put American Gangster in that third category. It adds a few arbitrary moments and a denouement that really deserved its place on the cutting room floor -- so basically I'm advising you to just stick with the theatrical version. It's 157 minutes long, after all, so it's not like you're getting shafted or anything.

The director contributes an audio commentary to the theatrical version, which (I guess) tells me we're in agreement on the preferred cut. Mr. Scott is typically dry-yet-informative commentary self, and screenwriter Steven Zaillian (recorded separately) provides some additional insights. Overall, it's not Scott's most scintillating chat-track, but it's full of info, and Zaillian's contributions help a lot.

Over on disc 2 you'll find an excellent 80-minute making-of documentary called Fallen Empire, which starts with the true story and follows all the way through production. Three very cool featurettes (and four minutes of deleted scenes) round out the package: a videotaped script meeting between Scott, Zaillian, and the real cop played by Russell Crowe in the movie; a heroin "show and tell" meeting, in which Scott gets tips on how to shoot a key scene; and a look at the creation of the flick's big "takedown" sequence.

Big-time Scott aficionados will, of course, want to check out the longer version for themselves, and that's precisely what I'd do, regardless of reviews. But as far as I'm concerned, in the case of American Gangster, less is a bit more.