putting the j in jjosh

 American Gangster – B

I just saw this again for the second time and I liked it a lot better this time. I think the first time I saw it I had just watched Crowe, Denzel and Ridley Scott on Charlie Rose and they were so freaking serious and full of themselves about how hard-core and amazing this film was. And then I saw the film and was like "ho hum, o.k." And yeah, it’s solidly done, entertaining from a cop/villain standpoint, fun to see how Denzel rises and Crowe brings him down. Not to mention the actor-of-the-moment Josh Brolin as an evil thug cop…

And a lot of the CRIME = CAPITALISM stuff was kind of hitting me over the head, and I wanted to scream "I get it!" when Denzel’s boss/father figure is telling him about cutting out the middle man, and so on. Denzel is badass as usual, but it came across a little like Scarface lite. And even Scarface wasn’t as good as it thought it was, you know?

But watching American Gangster the second time, I don’t know, it bothered me less. I got a lot out of the fact that this stuff is based on truth, and marveled at the way Denzel got the drugs into the US. And the capitalism = crime hit me a little more subtly, and the shots looked nicer. Although I’m still not sure I thought Crowe convinced me he was a shmo, and I’m not sure why Ruby Dee was nominated. It was more entertaining, and I was able to get some of the subtleties that I didn’t pick up on at first, the way Cuba Gooding presents so much presence even though he’s only in 2 or 3 scenes, the fact that it was Armand Assante as the bad Italian boss(!). I had more fun.

Maybe also it was watching it with someone else, instead of at 2 in the morning on my own. Not sure why, but this time it came off like Caffeine-free Scarface. Not bad really.