Lex Diamonds
11-01-2007, 12:46 PM
I finally got around to watching this yesterday after having a DVD quality rip on my computer for weeks. I would still like to see it in the cinema as I think the big screen could add another point on the rating.
The story is a good meaty "rise and fall" gangster tale, except the fall isn't much of a fall. If there was one specific flaw I could pin on this film it was that the downfall of Lucas appeared rushed and skimmed over, whereas every great gangster film focuses heavily on that aspect. Perhaps Scott is purposefully breaking convention, but it only serves to diminish from any sense of closure at the ending.
Washington and Crowe are both exceptional, despite Crowe's pathetic attempt at an American accent. Washington plays Lucas as cool yet disciplined, short-tempered yet calculated, and the result is an odd, almost autistic character that is impossible to psychoanalyse. This can be seen as either a pro or a con depending on your views on the artistic merits of "complex" characters.
Crowe is given the short straw as the stereotypical hard done-by cop/estranged father with a heart of gold, but he manages to play it humbly enough to be endearing and avoid the feeling that he is merely acting out a cliché.
The setting is wonderful, with some thickly atmospheric NYC locales and a particularly impressive foray into Southeast Asia. There are some brilliantly nuanced touches such as the almost unnoticeable gun tucked into the back of Lucas' trousers as he raises from a table at a diner, or the casual manner in which he effortlessly shoots a clay pigeon with a hip-shot, easily missed in the longshot. I really enjoyed Scott's subtle directive touches and I would like to believe any flaws in the film are due to the writers.
As I said I would probably need repeat viewings and preferably an actual cinema atmosphere to fully appreciate this film, but on first impressions it is a very worthy gangster film and falls only a little short of being this year's The Departed.
8/10
The story is a good meaty "rise and fall" gangster tale, except the fall isn't much of a fall. If there was one specific flaw I could pin on this film it was that the downfall of Lucas appeared rushed and skimmed over, whereas every great gangster film focuses heavily on that aspect. Perhaps Scott is purposefully breaking convention, but it only serves to diminish from any sense of closure at the ending.
Washington and Crowe are both exceptional, despite Crowe's pathetic attempt at an American accent. Washington plays Lucas as cool yet disciplined, short-tempered yet calculated, and the result is an odd, almost autistic character that is impossible to psychoanalyse. This can be seen as either a pro or a con depending on your views on the artistic merits of "complex" characters.
Crowe is given the short straw as the stereotypical hard done-by cop/estranged father with a heart of gold, but he manages to play it humbly enough to be endearing and avoid the feeling that he is merely acting out a cliché.
The setting is wonderful, with some thickly atmospheric NYC locales and a particularly impressive foray into Southeast Asia. There are some brilliantly nuanced touches such as the almost unnoticeable gun tucked into the back of Lucas' trousers as he raises from a table at a diner, or the casual manner in which he effortlessly shoots a clay pigeon with a hip-shot, easily missed in the longshot. I really enjoyed Scott's subtle directive touches and I would like to believe any flaws in the film are due to the writers.
As I said I would probably need repeat viewings and preferably an actual cinema atmosphere to fully appreciate this film, but on first impressions it is a very worthy gangster film and falls only a little short of being this year's The Departed.
8/10