2007 / Ridley Scott > Bloated and unfocused, Scott’s epic fails to adequately build on the strong source material provided by the life and times of the notorious Harlem-based heroine distributor Frank Lucas. In fact, one of the most extraordinary angles of this story is left to a simple caption near the end which, if one has their head turned away for a split second, could easily be missed. Much could have been left on the cutting floor, much could have been added. Scott fails to give the audience an emotional center to latch onto besides the glorification of a gangster whose morality is seldom questioned. There is a belief that people who do socially irresponsible things (whether it’s polluting the earth or murder) do so because it’s the way in which they know how to live. American Gangster tries to tell us that over and over, but somehow never fully forms a complete thought to get that point across successfully.