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Ridley Scott’s much hyped new film, American Gangster, is a brilliant telling of the life of the biggest heroin dealer in Harlem, Frank Lucas. Denzel Washington embodies the character of Lucas in his singular way, and Russell Crowe is also great as Detective Richie Roberts. This movie is really good, but not great.

Scott would have had a masterpiece on his hands if he would have edited the movie by 30 minutes. At times, it feels like it drags a bit, and some smart editing would have made the story line more concise. A subplot about Roberts’ wiseguy friend adds nothing to the movie.

Josh Brolin is great as the bad cop (You might remember he played another bad guy in Robert Rodriguez’s Grindhouse). Brolin has the villain swagger down pat. Director Scott does a good job of portraying the corruption that inundated the police force in late 60s-early 70s New York City.

This is a movie that suffers from being overhyped. Everyone was expecting a classic, and its close but no cigar in this case. I definitely recommend you go see American Gangster, but don’t be surprised if you are a little underwhelmed.