After months of talk and hype, tons of trailers and commercials American Gangster finally hit theaters this past weekend. But if ya hood like me you had a DVD quality copy from ya local bootlegger at least a week and a half ago, and have been discussing your opinions on the film w/all ya peoples on the block, in the barbershop, or local bar.

If nothing this movie proved to me that it takes more than a couple of marquis actors to make and “epic” film. This film also proved that just because a movie is 2+hours doesn’t make it good. Lastly the film brought about feelings of how blacks are portrayed in film and the types of portrayals of blacks that are embraced by the Black community and Whites as well.

Denzel did what Denzel does: Takes on a role entrenches himself in that role and plays the hell out of it. He basically carried the movie as he played the villain and main character “: Frank Lucas”. He was cold and calculated, but suave and charismatic which by all accounts is a good portrayal of Frank. Russell Crowe was decent playing detective Richie Roberts convincing enough to keep your attention but not mind blowing like his performance in Gladiator. The rest of the cast was wack though which brought the movie down. The dudes who played Lucas’s brothers were garbage Common faked a southern accent and didn’t quite pull it off, T.I. was the worst trying to play a little kid he needs acting classes badly, and the rest were forgettable. Ruby Dee did do a good job as Lucas’s mother but her role was limited to a few short scenes. The broad who played Lucas’s Puerto Rican beauty pageant wife was ugly and skinny and couldn’t act. The casting of the crooked NYPD officers and NYC Mob Bosses were laughable, and the worst of them all had to be the Nicky Barnes character played by Cuba (Cooning &Bafooning) Gooding Jr. These bad casting decisions made the movie difficult to watch.

Secondly this movie was about 45 minutes too long. I found myself several times during the film just being bored. You had parts of the film that made no sense like why did we have to sit through Richie Roberts played by Crowe custody battle, arguments with his wife, and him plugging his divorce lawyer (she was hot) it just seemed out of place. Rumor has it that Crowe demanded equal camera time as Denzel and that’s why those scenes were added. Turns out Roberts didn’t even have a wife and kids in real life at the time this all took place. There should have been more about Lucas’s relationship w/his mentor Bumpy Johnson, or a deeper portrayal of the inner workings of his organization. There were some points of the movie that gave it a jolt of energy, like when Lucas shot a rival dealer played by Idris Elba (Stringer Bell) in the face at point blank range in the middle of the morning rush hour, but overall the movie was way too long.

A few weeks before the movie came out I was having a conversation w/ S.Dot Stylus and one of the things I said to him is that “We’ve seen this movie a thousand times before” i.e.: Scarface, Belly, State Property, Paid in Full, The Entire American Gangster Series on BET and countless others that I cant remember right now (Oh yeah I just remembered The Wire). Young Black man grows up hard and poor, single parent household, starts running the streets, gets an unbelievable connect, and runs the “hood” for a few years until some gung ho white boy cop vows on his bottle of Scotch to bring this guy down, and usually does at which point the black guy is locked up for life or snitches to get a lesser sentence. Minus a few details this was basically the plot for American Gangster. ,which just had me feeling funny and reflective about these images that are continually shown to the public and why individuals outside of our community have certain images of our community and of Black Men in particular in their minds. Also to see how the “hood” reacted and a lot of the younger folks see Frank Lucas as “The Man” or “Dat Nigga” I’ve heard everything from “He had shit on smash” to “I’m the next Frank Lucas” from the younger folks. Personally I’m tired of these types of flicks turning these hustlers turned state witness guys into “Hood Heroes”. Its b/c of these images why white folks and older black folks as well look at me screw faced when I’m riding around in my late model whip. They figure I’m Frank Lucas or one of his underlings. “How else can he afford that car” is what there thinking. Not knowing that I’m partner in a successful media conglomerate. They would never think along those lines b/c they hardly see images of young black entrepreneurs portrayed with the preciseness and hype of movies like American Gangster. Although the World is full of stories like mine, Hollywood knows people aren’t interested in that story. I wish we as a people would pay close attention to the images that are portrayed of us in the media. If megastars like Denzel start declining or talking out against these images maybe Hollywood will realize that not everyone wants to re-live the systematic destruction of black communities over the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s who’s tragic effects are more than evident today.

American Gangster was marketed to us as the next great American crime saga, but is nothing but a long, stereotypical, badly cast mess. I’m glad that my bootlegger had a good copy and I didn’t waste money on this.