American Gangster

Why do people pick fights with movies. I'll never understand, some people have they're opinions and I have mine. For instance Ridley Scott has proven time and again he can take any film, and make at least enjoyable from any genre. Think Alien,Black Hawk Down,Gladiator,Hannibal,Kingdom of heaven and even Matchstick Men.

Ok so they're not all great but when I heard about American Gangster I was less then thrilled and didn't care two hells about it. But it had a decent cast, Russell Crowe, Denzel Washington, Josh Brolin and hell even Carla Gugino makes and appearance.

The story which is about Frank Lucas'(played by Denzel) true crime story and how he became the most notorious man in Harlem back in the 70's. How did he become so notorious well he was firstly the protege and driver of Black gangster "Bumpy" Johnson whom we see at the beginning with Frank taking a match and burning a man alive, while Frank takes his gun out and shoots the hell out of him after. Bumpy later dies and Frank takes over by bringing in pure heroin from South East Asia, and selling it in Harlem, and calling it Blue Magic. It soon becomes the most popular drug and heroin used in not just Harlem but New York City itself.

Of course Detective Richie Roberts(played by Russel Crowe) who is also studying to become a lawyer, wants to find out who is making Blue Magic and catch them. It's rare to see honest cops especially played to a Tee! and by all means i was surprised by Crowes performance he shows the valiance of Roberts character, this is a cop who won't take bribes or drugs and makes an honest pay by getting cheques from the Police Department. How honest well, one scene in the movie shows Roberts and his partner finding a trunk of money with over a million in cash, but he doesn't take any of it. Of course Roberts is not a perfect man, he's got family problems and sleeps around a lot, you can see where Scott puts him as the good guy character, but not overly good as we see he has his fair share of problems at work, at home and even with the ladies. But his main mission is taking down Lucas and his drug exports.


Going back to Lucas, I must say Denzel does a perfect job, he is loud,smart,angry but also a classy man. He's got the perfect line between Gentleman and Family man but also the "Don't F***" with me attitude, and Denzel shows this. One scene including Lucas talking to his brothers about the business he runs, when Lucas sees an old rival of his he goes out, takes his gun out pointing it to his head, where the guy stares laughs and says "What you're going to shoot me in front of all these people here?" Lucas immediately pulls the trigger and walks away as if nothing happens. It's there where you see Lucas is not a man to screw around with, and he shows this throughout the film as well, but also showing his caring and smart side, as well as his sly remark "My Man" to many of the people, in which you can't pinpoint exactly whether he's mad or happy, or what he'll do next.


But the real award goes to dickhead Detective Trupo played by Josh Brolin. This guy amazes me and I believe he is the next big thing for screens, seriously No Country for Old men, Planet terror and the upcoming W, this guy has got real screen presence and in American Gangster he doesn't disappoint. Trupo is a corrupt cop taking money from drug dealers and using it for themselves, basically taxing the people who can't do anything about it. But you hate his character, so badly, even when you dislike Lucas for what he's doing, Trupos character is even worse, he's the person you want justice to come to. One scene involving him trying to take down Lucas on his wedding day by harassing him, just the exchange of lines between both of them is incredible, how they pester and insult one another back and forth, just great dialogue exchange.


Of course that's not to say American Gangster is for everyone. Some people will complain it's to long in parts. Yes it can feel a bit long and sure they could have shortened it down by excluding some scenes, in fact the Unrated DVD has even more scenes to which I found where useless, and was glad they didn't make the final cut. Others might complain that is just a snooze fest, and just trying to rip off other well known Gangster flicks, and that it takes to long to get to the conclusion.

In my opinion if you've enjoyed other Gangster flicks, you won't go wrong with this one, it's great, has amazing dialogue and direction, and is a great piece of crime drama to won especially one with a true black gangster as "Harlem" was just an awful waste of film portraying black gangsters, where as American Gangster fulfills both the story and characters making it a great opportunity that many missed out on, a definite check out for this one!