American Gangster

Starring: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, & Lymari Nadal

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I'm not particularly fond of Russell Crowe, but when he came together with Ridley Scott, some terrific movies got made. Throw Denzel Washington into the mix and you have the makings of an epic drama. American Gangster was beloved by critics and the academy alike, but it also received negative reviews from the people the story was based on, who claimed it was ninety percent fiction. The film takes almost 3 hours to tell us the story of Frank Lucas, a man who was mentored by the great Bumpy Johnson, and ran Harlem, along with much of the heroin on the east coast from 1969 to 1977. In passed years, even prior to this film, Frank Lucas has been immortalized as some kind of hero. Many believe that he kept the people of Harlem out of poverty and ultimately did the right thing, once his conscience caught up with him. The film American Gangster seems to agree with this take on the story and portray Lucas as a man larger than life, who you want to like, despite his criminal activity. The truth is that Lucas was no hero, as for a decade he ran a crew as large as any organized crime family, and he was responsible for the deaths of thousands of people who overdosed on his junk. When Lucas turned states evidence, leading to the arrest of 150 people, most of whom were corrupt officials in New York City, it had nothing to do with his conscience, he just wanted to stay out of jail. That's not how it portrayed and was the only thing that really kept this film from getting a five star rating. American Gangster is shot much in the same style as Heat, with a large cast and fasting moving scenes. Denzel Washington is always good, but when he's playing someone from his own community he really steps it up to a whole other level. Washington absolutely should have received an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Lucas. Regardless of how true the story may have been, Washington was just amazing. Denzel is paired with Russell Crowe, who portrays the man who is chasing him, a very deep and interesting man that seemed to fit Crowe's personality to a tee. American Gangster is a long, fast moving story, that may not be all that accurate, but you will be hard pressed to find a better cast then the one they had and for that, American Gangster is labeled as a must see movie.