This movie was going to rise or fall based on Washington and Crowe’s performances and all it needed was a descent screenplay to help them out with some half way descent direction. It was a descent screenplay with competent direction from Scott, but ultimately it was Washington and Crowe that made this movie fly and be better than it was.
I know this movie is based on true events and that does help things along a lot, but to me this movie played like the second brother to Michael Mann’s Heat. Speaking of Heat, this movie felt like it was molded from a little bit of Heat and Serpico as it explored both sides of the law and the criminal (like Heat did) while at the same time dealing with crooked cops (as Serpico did).
Three things hindered it from aspiring to Heat’s cinematic level:
1. The movie didn’t have enough towering acting set pieces for Washington and Crowe. Unlike Heat where there were a lot of scenes given to De Niro and Pacnio that helped flesh flesh out and establish character, while giving them some good dialogue to act with and just letting them really go at it. In this movie Washington and Crowe aren’t given enough of those scenes to help lift their character and the movie into the classic level (also the first time Washington and Crowe get together on the screen they have coffee, much like Pacino and De Niro in Heat).
2. There needed to be more scenes with Washington and Crowe’s crew. Doing this would have given them more acting scenes and helped to flesh out the people around them, which is something Heat did marvelously well.
3. The direction on this was nowhere near on par with Mann’s Heat but then again I blame this on Scott who, at his best, is a competent director. But, even that being said, I would say this is one of his three best movies (Alien and Blade Runner being the other two), which I find funny because not many people talk about this film. I don’t understand why? Because it’s still a good movie.
I watched the director’s cut which added an extra 18 minutes, bringing the running time to around 3 hours, but I never once felt it was too long, as it balanced out Washington and Crowe’s life very well. Another thing that made this movie a good watch was the attention to the time period Scott brought, which was pitch perfect and really helped to be an extra character throughout the movie, as it gave the movie a distinct feel in every frame.
The movie alone is worth watching for Washington and Crowe’s performances that prove here what good actors they are. Even when they’re given much dialogue for a scene they can still convey a lot of information with just a look from their eyes or body posture. And both actors really seemed to energize any scene they’re in even if they’re just standing there. Also I really like this poster. It's very subtle and simple and the black and white color really bring home the themes at play in the movie.
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