American Gangster

This is finest gangster flick since "Goodfellas." There should be a top ten compiled on this thread of the genre, which, for me should include "The Godfather" I & II, Kubrick's "The Killing" and this film.

His performance was A-One, as always. But I didn't really get into this film.

I, too, watched the unedited version and found it overlong and, at times, straight up lousy.

Denzel was, as usual, fantastic. No question about it . Crowe's character, though, was not very dynamic, and the paradox that he's a straight shooter on the job but not in his personal life is cliche and also a lazy thread in the film.

The worst, though, was the ending, which I hope was cut in the original. Where Crowe meets Denzel at his release? I cringed at how self-aware they were that it was "suddenly" the 90s, and all these stereotypical 90s references are made, just in case we're retarded. A Public Enemy song (from their album "Apocalypse '91") is playing, and Washington and Crowe start quipping about lattes and bagels. Then, randomly, Denzel almost gets hit by a car? Then the film ends?

Yes, those scenes in the long version should have remained on the cutting room floor. The film would have been even better if it had been judiciously edited down another fifteen minutes or so.

Watched it on DVD tonight and was disappointed.Good story and Denzel was as "cool" as usual,but it's just another good guy/bad guy story! Nothing special in my book.