American Gangster

American Gangster follows the real life story of Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) and his rise to power as a crime boss. It also tells the parallel story of Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) the police officer that is eventually asked to bring Lucas in.

Well it isn’t exactly the Godfather or Goodfellas for that matter in fact I think that it is more like a Serpico, which in my opinion makes it an interesting movie. As it is based on a true story it takes its time giving you all the bits and pieces of information, perhaps more time than necessary, and because of that you find yourself liking Lucas more than you should.

Unlike Matt I wasn’t disappointed by the movie—perhaps because after his review I went in with much lower expectations. The police story line in my opinion is much more interesting and again reminds me of Serpico. Nevertheless it is shot really well and you are sucked in right from the start. I think that Matt’s comparison of Frank Lucas to Anakin Skywalker is kind of stretch. Nothing can be that bad. But I get what he meant and agree it wasn’t poignant enough.

Extremely interesting and very well done—expect to hear Oscar buzz for both Washington and Crowe.

***

Rated R (for violence, drugs, language, nudity and sexuality)