American Gangster (2008)

Denzel Washington playing Frank Lucas does for the black drug trade what Pacino did for the mafia in The Godfather and for the Cuban drug lords in Scarface – except this story is real. It peels back the curtain on how the heroin trade blossomed in Harlem in the 70s. American Gangster is not nearly as accomplished as those other movies and will not be remembered 30 years from now as one of the all-time great movies. But it is a solid bio-pic that makes you empathize with and be repulsed by this complex man that rose to the top of the drug-scene at a time when black power was not supposed to be synonymous with criminal power. Russell Crowe (State of Play) is also great as Richie Roberts, the honest cop, that is hot on the heels of Lucas. You will not regret seeing American Gangster. I certainly enjoyed it.

Niels Hansen is the co-owner of Hansen Creative Services, a graphic design firm near Columbus, Ohio which specializes in employee communications and small business marketing.

State of Play (2009)

What I expected:

The movie version of State of Play is an American remake of an excellent British TV series from 2003 by the same name and as such has a steep hill to climb in the expectations game. The movie does have a very strong cast in Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Helen Mirren and Robin Wright Penn, matched on the TV side by Bill Nighy, Kelly MacDonald and James McAvoy. I have to say I fully expected the movie to pale by comparison.

What I got:

It is not possible to review the movie without reviewing the TV series as well. They share the same basic storyline and most of the cast of characters:

A female assistant to a cabinet member is pushed in front of a subway train. She was having an affair with the cabinet member and the story that unfolds is the collapse of his marriage and the investigation conducted by newspaper reporters to get to the bottom of what happened. The story takes a couple of interesting twists and turns, and it keeps you guessing until the end. Questions of freedom of the press and national security are laid bare in the process and neither the American nor the British system fare too well under the scrutiny.

Russell Crowe captures the lead investigative journalist, Cal McCaffrey, beautifully in his usual “bum about town” style. He far outshines John Simm who plays the role on TV. Crowe can do bachelor grunge like nobody else. When he eats his dinner out of a can, you believe it! Conversely, Simms is a much more likely object of the affection of the cabinet member’s wife (Polly Walker). Maybe that is why that part of the storyline was cut entirely from the movie version? Robin Wright Penn plays the wife in the movie, and even though she is no stranger to icky bedfellows (she was still married to Sean Penn at the time), maybe Crowe was just that bridge too far?

Kelly MacDonald is brilliant as the young up-and-coming journalist. She brings an intelligence, toughness and vulnerability to the British role that Rachel McAdams cannot dream to match with her performance in the movie, but she does have whiter teeth.

Helen Mirren and Bill Nighy draw a tie as the editor-in-chief of the paper. They both do a great job, but in completely different ways. Ben Affleck is credible as the cabinet member in the movie, but David Morrissey edges him out, in part due to the much more complex character explored in the TV series.

For all the ladies in the audience the TV series offers something the movie cannot compete with, namely James McAvoy. His character has been cut completely in the movie and his charm and roguishness give a huge advantage to the TV series here.

Both versions of State of Play are entertaining and neither is a waste of your time. I enjoyed the TV series more, in part because it can take its time to unravel the story and has more complexity. What the movie does well is bring the issues surrounding the state of journalism today into sharp relief. I was pleasantly surprised that the movie held its own as well as it did.

Niels Hansen is the co-owner of Hansen Creative Services, a graphic design firm near Columbus, Ohio which specializes in employee communications and small business marketing.