Minute44 - Dan Schonhaar

Directed by: Ridley Scott

Starring: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe

Photos | Trailers | Full Cast and Crew | Memorable Quotes | Trivia

In the late 60s and early 70s, the drug trade in New York was run by one man. Ridley Scott’s latest film American Gangster chronicles the rise and fall of “the most dangerous man walking the streets of the city”, Frank Lucas.

Denzel Washinton plays Frank Lucas, long serving driver and confident of Harlem’s leading black gangster who’s employer teaches him the trade and hands him the torch for running the city after his death. Lucas grabs this opportunity with both hands and sets out on a ruthless path of drug trafficking, extortion and murder, eliminating all who stand in his way. On the other side of the law, Russell Crowe plays Detective Richie Robberts, an honest cop, shunned by his crooked fellow officers and his own wife. Roberts heads up a special narcotics division to take down Lucas and his operation.

I’ve not known about this film for too long really. I only saw the trailer for the first time not two months ago, quite odd when you consider it brings three of Hollywood’s biggest names (Washinton, Crowe and Scott) together for the first time. That’s probably a good thing though as many recent high-end block busters have suffered due to unattainable hype. What little hype this film has had, however, it as surely lived up to. There are stunning performances all round, and that’s saying a lot as I normally cannot stand Russell Crowe, and find it nigh on intolerable when Rappers are given acting roles, especially in serious true stories such as this.

Where this movie really excels is in the supporting roles. There are some fantastic performances by Josh Brolin, Cuba Gooding Jr and Armand Assante among others. These characters brought a real depth to the story and it almost entirely escaped me that one of Josh Brolin’s, first roles was that of Brandon Walsh in The Goonies. All the members of Lucas’ family are portrayed very well also and his right hand man and life-long friend Charlie Williams is played very well by Joe Morton.

A few things let this film down enough for me to not award it full marks though. Denzel Washinton and Russell Crowe, as always, seemed to play themselves first and the character second, bringing too much of the respective actor’s own nuances into a character who is based on a real life person, although I think having the real Frank Lucas on set to advise kept Washington mostly in check. Secondly, I found the film bordering on being too long. At 2 hours and 40 minutes I started getting a bit uncomfortable, despite still enjoying the story. There were also scenes in the movie that were not fully explained or explained at all. The opening scene, before the credits, shows Lucas murdering an Hispanic man and this is not brought up again at all in the movie. I understand that it was mostly a statement about the character’s ruthlessness but it would have been nice to be given more of an insight.

All in all though, excellent casting and production combined with gritty realism and an honest portrayal of the drug trade in the 60s and 70s make this true crime epic gripping from start to finish. I recommend you pay the extra for luxury seating though, 3 hours in the cinema will take it’s toll on you.

Verdict: