THE true story of master criminal Frank Lucas was always going to be a good one to make into a movie.
Lucas was once a nobody, a quiet driver for one of New York's leading crime figures.
Observing the respect his boss commanded from the people around him, Lucas clearly thought: "One day, I'm gonna be like that."
And that day eventually came.
When his boss suddenly died, Lucas exploited the hole he left and quickly made a name for himself as a poweful figure in the Harlem underworld.
And it was drugs that got him there.
advertisement
Using his military contacts serving in Vietnam, Lucas was able to import pure heroin, flooding the streets with the drug and selling it at a competitive price, and making a mint for himself and his organisation.
And so in the early 1970s Frank Lucas was like royalty in Harlem, seemingly untouchable and unstoppable by his rivals and by the law.
Until a rogue cop called Richie Roberts arrives on the scene.
So, pretty standard stuff as far as cops-and-robbers movies go (or in this case, cops and drug dealers); maverick detective and smart gangster: it's been done a million times before.
Well, not by director Ridley Scott it hasn't. Never one to shy away from a tough and challenging project, the film-maker has got his teeth into this story, and beneath the skin of his two protagonists.
He has certainly created a tremendous sense of time and place - this is 1970s Harlem, and dig those clothes and
hair-dos, man.
And while the crime and the locations are key to the story, at its heart are the two main players in the film, and it is the performances of Denzel Washington as Lucas and Russell Crowe as Roberts that give American Gangster its drive and, particularly in Washington's case, its power.
Washington's crime lord is intelligent, ruthless and, when the occasion demands, not a little charming.
It makes the character a thoroughly nasty piece of work, best exemplified by the scene in which Lucas quietly gets up from the middle of a meal he is sharing with brothers and cousins in a diner, steps outside to where a rival gangster is holding court, and casually blows his brains out.
Crowe has a more thankless role, and while his character is complex - while all this is going on, he is put through a difficult custody case with his ex - it's less showy and meaty compared with Washington's performance.
Unfortunately, the two don't share enough screen time to make this a totally satisfying experience - the film would have benefited from more dialogue between Lucas and Roberts, and when they finally get together towards the end, it feels rushed.
The look and style of American Gangster brings to mind one of the great Hollywood crime movies, The French Connection, and while it does not stand comparison with that film, or indeed with the more recent Heat, which to a lesser degree it also resembles, it is still a compelling slice of true-life drama.
7/10
AMERICAN GANGSTER
Starring: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Josh Brolin, Chiwetel Ejiofor
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
Print
Email this
Comment
