AMERICAN GANGSTER 2 Disc Extended DVD Steelbook Collector's Edition

Ridley Scott directs this biopic of 1970s Harlem narco baron Frank Lucas. When his boss dies, underworld driver Lucas (Denzel Washington) seizes his chance and begins to build his own criminal empire. Utilizing the bodies of dead US soldiers, Lucas begins importing heroin direct from South-East Asia, increasing purity on the street, and undercutting his rivals in one swoop. Before long he's amassed a fortune, bringing him to the attention of maverick policeman Ritchie Roberts (Russell Crowe), an honest cop in an otherwise corrupt force, who makes it his business to shut Lucas down.

From Amazon.co.uk
A slow burning, yet entirely gripping, mobster film, American Gangster pits Denzel Washington's Frank Lucas against Russell Crowe's law enforcer Richie Roberts. Spread over a necessarily prolonged running time, their story is then brutally, expertly, told.

And while American Gangster isn't in the league of prime Scorsese and Coppolla classics (such as Goodfellas and The Godfather), it's the nearest we've come in quite some time to something of that ilk. It's all based on a true story, which does mean you need to forgive it some of its obvious narrative conventions, yet this also lends it a gravitas that the film eagerly makes the most of.

It's great too to see British director Ridley Scott tackling meatier material again. This is the man, after all, who gave us Blade Runner, Alien and Gladiator, and he duly delivers with American Gangster.

What's more, American Gangster is powered by two of the finest leading men working in Hollywood right now, and it's terrific to see Washington and Crowe on top form here. And while in cinematic terms it's hardly a film that treads new ground, it's nonetheless a proper, grown-up and engrossing movie, and a very good one at that


Disc 1:
The first disc has two versions of the movie. The first is the theatrical release and the second is an unrated extended version with 18 minutes of additional footage, and an alternate ending.
The theatrical version contains a commentary by Ridley Scott and screenwriter Steven Zallian.

Disc 2:
The second disc has quite a few lengthy extras that do a fairly good job of enhancing the movie. The center of the disc is a 78-minute making-of feature called “Fallen Empire: Making American Gangster." The section is made up of five separate featurettes that are approximately 15 minutes each and can be started individually or watched all at once with the play all function. The various sections deal with the backstory, costumes, production, a scene recreating the Ali-Frazier boxing match, and a catch-all covering the technical areas of sound, music, and editing. It’s interesting that the film has an Oscar nomination for art direction and no extra on that area.


The five areas that are included are shown with a nice amount of depth. Giving almost 15 minutes to hear how the film developed from producer Brian Grazer’s point of view is a nice treat. In fact, it is where we learn that the movie was originally going to be made by director Antoine Fuqua with Benicio Del Toro as Richie Roberts. The section on costumes is a little more information than I would want, but if that is your thing, it’s a good overview. The main performers and creative team are interviewed extensively in all five sections.

The second batch of extras is less interesting. Three eight minute “fly on the wall” segments show some behind-the-scenes meetings and events with no real narration. That works very well for “Setting up the Takedown,” which shows the scene where Richie’s crew storms Frank’s operational center. It doesn’t work so well for a conference call between Scott, Zallian, and the real Richie Roberts on the script. It’s kinda boring. Even more boring is the property master and a consultant showing Scott how they can present purity tests on drugs in the movie. It seems never-ending.

Despite the additional scenes in the extended cut, there are two more deleted scenes presented on the second disc. One is the iconic scene from the trailer where a shadowed Denzel Washington walks into an empty café, shoots directly at the camera, and then turns and walks out. The scene is nowhere in the movie but is shown here as an alternate opening, replacing the part where Frank and Bumby burn and shoot a man in an alley. The other deleted scene is from Frank’s wedding.

Steelbook is in excellent/very good condition, discs are immaculate.

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