American Gangster

I caught American Gangster today and was quite pleased with it. It isn't groundbreaking at all - it's very much like a lot of other mob movies - but it's the details that make it worthwhile.

Frank Lucas (played by Denzel Washington) is an evil, vicious, murdering drug lord, who at the same time is charming and likable. Kind of like Vito and Michael Corleone in the Godfather movies in that you kind of like them even though they are despicable people. Richie Roberts (played by Russell Crowe) on the other hand, is a good and honest cop, but he's a womanizer, a lousy dad, and kind of a jerk, so even though he's the good guy and doing the right thing, it's difficult to like him anyway.

It is this kind of character development which makes the movie so interesting. The story delves into their motivations, as well as their methods. You get to see how they are able to achieve their goals. For Frank Lucas, he personally visits a poppy plantation in Vietnam to cut a deal to buy heroin directly from them, thereby eliminating who knows how many middle men and both cutting his costs and getting pure product that hasn't been cut.

So it is an in depth look at the inner workings of a sophisticated crime syndicate and at the same time a look at an honest cop's struggles to clean up a dirty, violent New York when a lot of his fellow officers are dishonest. And if this movie accurately represents what New York was like in the 70's, it was a hell hole.