American Gangster

I'm not even sure if I should review this movie. The be honest, I wasn't even particularly looking forward to see it but then from the opening moments I was hooked. The performances were great, I was completely interested in the story, and even though the film is long it was moving forward at such a brisk pace that I never noticed the running time. This was easily becoming one of my favorite Ridley Scott films (up there with Black Hawk Down and Matchstick Men, maybe Blade Runner) and was one of the best movies of the year. A sort of throwback seventies crime drama that feels authentic.

Then somewhere around the 2 hour mark something happened. The sound in the front speakers went out and the voices of the characters became so mumbled that it was impossible to hear. All the other speakers were fine so that all the effects and music were still coming through in surround sound, just the voices were covered up. One by one people started to stand and leave. I was too caught up to get up, I wanted to see how it all finished. Eventually an usher came in and was surprised to see someone left. I asked her to please just change the audio from stereo to mono, hoping they could direct all of it to one speaker and just bypass the two that were going out. She went to get a manager who came in and gave me a free pass to any movie I wanted and told me he would do what he could with the sound but that he thought it was a problem with the film. I have no idea since I have never been a projectionist but I think he was wrong, it seemed to be a speaker problem more than anything else. After another five or so minutes passed (close to ten minutes total) the vocals kicked back in but with a horrible scratching, sort of like the needle of a record in between tracks. I had already invested in over two hours of my time into this movie and decided to stick it out until the end. It did seem like the conclusion came a little to quickly, and was rushed. Then again, I have no idea since I couldn't hear most of what led up to it. Either way, it was completely worth staying and seeing the ending, it's a really good movie.

NOTE: I saw this at the new Hulen Movie Tavern, wanting to see if there was another theater worth going to in Fort Worth (Rave being the best). It really is nice, they have completely redesigned the old UA Hulen and even fitted the theaters with stadium seats. It isn't perfect though, other than the problems I had tonight, the night before I had tried to see the same film. When I arrived the place was completely shut down, no lights on, no cars in the parking lot, nothing. When I called the next day they told me that the power had gone off. I understand this but at least leave a note on the door. So basically what I am saying is that after two trips to the theater I have had two major problems with it. That, or American Gangster hates me.