American Gangster (2007)

Not many times I have gone to a 2 hr and 35 minute movie and not feel like it was that long. The Lord of the Rings movies, Harry Potter movies maybe and now I can include American Gangster. What a great movie!! Intellgent, well directed and acted and a great story. This movie involved me from start to finish.

American Gangster, about Frank Lucas (Denzel Washignton), a gangster in Harlem in the 1970s, who fed the drug population with his heroin and Richie Roberts (Russel Crowe), the cop who is trying to take down the drug cartels in New York. I was anticipating violence, drugs and sex within a great story. Ridley Scott, who directed this movie, brought all of those to the big screen, but also brought a smartness to it. Scott was able to provide us, the viewers, a movie that we could think about for a very long time.

Lucas was a bad man. He provided drugs to the druggies and had people murdered who disrespected him. We see a man that had his pure heroin delivered in the caskets of the US soldiers that died fighting in Vietnam. But the way Scott directed him and the way Washington portrayed him, we see a much different type of bad guy. We see a man who was caring for his family, a man that treated his people and the people of Harlem with respect. We don't see your typical gangster who kills for fun and sells drugs and prostitutes like they are nothing. The Lucas we see in this movie is in a sense a good bad guy.

Then we have Roberts, very well done by Crowe. Roberts was a good cop. He wouldn't take bribes and turned in cops that broke the vows they took as when they became a police officer. He is also trying to become a lawyer and does pass the BAR exam. Roberts fights hard to bring the drug lords down and eventually does. This could be another Oscar worthy performance by the always reliable Crowe.

Now this movie wasn't perfect. At times it gets confusing. Scott jumps back and forth between the two main characters and sometimes too much is shown. Meaning we didn't need all of it. We didn't need all of the stuff between Roberts and his wife. We know he is a good man and a bad father and husband. We see that from the start. But thats all that I can say negatively about this movie. Not much else.

American Gangster is a great movie. I would highly recommend it to anyone. You can't really go wrong with these two power house actors in it now can you. Washingtone and Crowe are great in anything they do and together, even though not on screen together much at all in this movie, they still bring the house down. I expect to see American Gangster to be heard a few times come Awards time.

Check this movie out. You will not be disappointed. I guarantee it.

The Flick Guru