Based on a true story, American Gangster tells the tale of late 1960's New York City drug lord Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) and his rise to power on the streets of Harlem during the Vietnam conflict. It's an epic story that also chronicles the demise of one of the most inventive American street criminals of the '70s, brought about by narcotics detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe), an honest cop determined to clean up the streets and the incessant corruption within the NYPD. It's a story that's richly layered with a multitude of complexities - power, wealth, family, corruption, crime, justice, loyalty, fear, arrogance, and the list goes on. Throw in Ridley Scott behind the camera along with its star-studded cast, and American Gangster should be an instant home-run, right? Well, it's not quite that simple.

As you'd expect, American Gangster is a stunningly vibrant film. Known for his artistic ability to use the big-screen as a canvas like the great painters of our time, Ridley Scott takes a different approach with American Gangster. Instead of painting huge cinematic swaths that could have easily overshadowed the film, Scott recreates the late-1960s and early-'70s in a way that allows the story to breathe and work organically within the visual framework for the sake of momentum. Scott's approach is not only tactical but more economical from solely a visual standpoint than we've seen in the past. Even when Frank Lucas heads overseas to Bangkok to strike his first major drug deal, Scott marches in a straight line to the end goal along with the character, only revealing what's necessary to keep the story moving. For this film, Scott walks a fine line between Terrence Malik and Brian DePalma. With regard to the overall tone and a previous reference point in Scott's career, think the opening sequence of Hannibal with a lot more style and sashay.

By no means is American Gangster a bad film, it's just not as great as it could have been. Denzel delivers big on Frank Lucas in a role that almost required Washington to play the part while Russell Crowe expectedly delivers in the supporting role of Richie Roberts (even Josh Brolin as a cop on the take and Cuba Gooding Jr. as a low-level drug boss). Acting isn't where the film falters. Although some might complain that American Gangster is too long, there's no rule book that stipulates what length a film should be (yes, budding screenwriters, it's true). A film is what it is and if it's two-and-a-half hours, so be it. If it's long and it works, everyone goes home happy. The main issue with American Gangster is that it gets caught up in the many complexities within the lives of its two central characters. To a large degree, there are two different movies at play within the same film - the rise and fall of Frank Lucas and the life of Richie Roberts and his quest to rid the force of corruption that eventually intersects with Lucas. It's the balance between the two where American Gangster struggles the most. For what the Lucas character gains, the Roberts character loses. By the third act, there's much-too-quick mad dash to resolve all of the loose ends.

Although the disc includes an "Unrated Extended Version" of the film with 18 additional minutes that includes an extended ending and four brief deleted scenes with an alternate opening, the best bang for your buck is the captivating feature length behind-the-scenes documentary "Fallen Empire: Making American Gangster". In this nearly 80-minute segment, fans gain in-depth insight into the entire production and what went into making the film, including previous attempts to get the film off the ground, costume design and creating authentic clothes of the 1960s and 70s, the making of the film's soundtrack and score, the challenges of editing and getting the film done on time, and how life was like for the two main characters involved via interviews with the real Frank Lucas and Richie Roberts. After checking out either version of the film, give yourself a day or two and jump back into the story with the documentary... you won't be sorry.

Also worth mentioning are the series of "Case Files" that explore the script's development with Steve Zaillian, Ridley Scott, Richie Roberts, and Branko Lustig, how Scott set up the film's main drug bust, and how fake drugs were tested before they went into the film. Also, fans will find a great in-depth and engagingly informative feature commentary by Ridley Scott and Steve Zaillian on the original theatrical version.

Although we're still glad Scott chose to give fans the "Unrated Extended Version" despite its nearly three-hour running time, the disc could have used another commentary by Denzel and Russell... but that's just wishful thinking on our part.

Like I mentioned, by no means is American Gangster a bad film, it's just not as great as it could have been. It's still an interesting look at one of the most unique crime stories to come out of the late 1960s and early '70s filled with fine performances and great visuals. As a complete film, American Gangster could have been more balanced to off-set the top-heavy focus on Lucas that inevitably weakened the Richie Roberts plot. As a DVD, American Gangsterwon't disappoint fans of the film and serves up a wealth of expansion that makes the DVD experience worth while. With an alternate ending, alternate opening, deleted scenes, 18-minutess of additional footage, a commentary by Ridley Scott and Steve Zaillian, and an 80-minute documentary, it's all time well spent.