Denzel Washington Brought Frank Lucas to Life in American Gangster
Written: Nov 07 '07 (Updated Sep 19 '08)
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: Washington and Crowe. Strong, entertaining movie.
Cons: Little slower in spots. Drug use featured a lot.
The Bottom Line: American Gangster was a very entertaining movie with strong performances from Washington and Crowe. Their fans may enjoy the movie.
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| dragonfire88's Full Review: American Gangster |
Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe have both won Oscars for their acting as well as receiving many other nominations. I've seen many movies that both men have been in and have enjoyed them. I decided when I first saw the trailer for American Gangster that I wanted to see the movie even though I don't tend to like mob movies in general.
Frank Lucas spent several years working for Ellsworth Raymond “Bumpy” Johnson, a gangster in Harlem. Frank worked as Bumpy’s driver and also provided protection. After Bumpy died, Frank decided that he was going to take over in Harlem and he wasn’t going to be working for anyone else like Bumpy had done. Frank got the idea to buy pure heroin from the source in Asia and figured out how to get it into the country. He then sold his product, named Blue Magic, cheaper than anyone else and made huge profits. He brought his family up from North Carolina and got his brothers involved in the business. Frank was ruthless in protecting his business.
Richie Roberts was such an honest cop that he turned in a million dollars that he and his partner found. That action did cause him to be ostracized by other cops on the force. He was put in charge of a special new narcotics investigation squad who were focused on going after the suppliers instead of just the buyers. As Richie and his team investigated Blue Magic, they started discovering that Frank Lucas was much more powerful in the drug world than they had originally believed.
American Gangster was based on a true story. The majority of the movie was focused in on Frank and his business. Richie and his investigation was also important and received a good deal of attention as well. Before seeing this movie, I had never heard of Frank or Richie. After watching the movie, I did some research and learned more about the characters, especially Frank. Evidently he was very well known and was the subject of several magazine articles, including one by Mark Jacobson that was the original idea for the movie. From the things I have read, it seems like the movie stayed fairly close to the real events. Certain things were changed around some, which isn’t unusual with movies based on true events. Several years were covered in the movie with it only specifically mentioning a year a couple of times. At the end of the movie, there was a small amount of information shared about what happened with Frank and Richie.
Drugs have been a huge problem in this country for years. I grew up hearing about the fight against drugs going on in the 1980's, including Nancy Reagan’s Just Say No campaign. At that time, I hadn’t realized that drugs had already been a big problem for many years. Since Frank made his fortune by selling heroin, drugs played a very big part in American Gangster. Many different people were shown buying, selling, and using drugs. All the drug use may bother or offend some viewers. I did learn a few things from the movie, like that the women working with the product would be naked so that they couldn’t steal any. I also hadn’t heard about the way Frank got his heroin into the country before. It is kind of amazing that he managed to do that for so many years right under the nose of the government and military. Frank made a lot of money, became very powerful, and lived a good life. I don’t think the movie glamorized the drug trade, though some people may feel differently.
Even though American Gangster was rated R, I didn’t think it was that violent overall. Considering the subject matter, I actually went into the movie thinking there would be more violence. Several scenes did include violence, but they weren’t as graphic as I had thought they would be. Frank was shown doing a few very violent things that helped to demonstrate how ruthless he was in regard to his business. Several people were shot or beat up, and a lot of blood was shed. The movie could be too violent for some people. The word that rhymes with luck, along with several variations of the word, were used many times by different characters. Anyone that gets offended by excessive swearing in a movie may want to avoid this one. This isn't a movie for children.
In addition to showing a lot about Frank and how he ran his business, American Gangster also took some time to deal with Richie. He was a very honest cop which caused him problems on the job since most of the others were corrupt to some degree and were ticked off about him turning in the money he found. While his career did get better once he was heading up the special drug unit, his personal life was falling apart. His marriage had failed and he was dealing with a custody battle. He was shown with a few different women, but it didn’t seem like he was serious about any of them. There was a brief sex scene featuring him and one of the women he’d picked up somewhere that really didn’t add anything to the movie. The few other scenes showing Richie with women were enough to establish what was going on in his personal life. The sex scene wasn’t that long and it wasn’t graphic, so it shouldn’t offend anyone. There was a little bit of nudity in a few scenes, usually when the women working with the heroin were shown working. The movie did take some time to show Frank meet Eva and then eventually marry her. He did seem to care for her, but he would let her know if she did something that upset him.
Since I knew nothing about Frank or Richie and how everything had worked out, there was a bit of mystery in American Gangster for me. I doubt there will be any mystery for people who already know about Frank. I did wonder at times how Frank would manage something and I was surprised more than once with how he pulled things off. I think the way he got the heroin into the United States surprised me the most. It took guts to do what he did to transport it. There really wasn’t any suspense in the movie and that didn’t bother me since I really didn’t expect any. This was a very strong, well done drama that is worth seeing. People who are more familiar with Frank won’t be surprised by the things I was, but I still think the movie can be enjoyable for them.
Frank came basically from nothing and became the most powerful man in the drug trade thanks to his plan of bringing in the heroin from Asia. He had big dreams of being successful, and at that point in time, there were limited options for people like him. He took the opportunities he had and became very successful. In addition to his drug trade, he also opened some legitimate businesses, including a popular nightclub. Frank was ruthless when it came to business but he showed a softer side with his family, especially his mother at times. That made him a more complex person. He had a charisma that just drew people to him. Denzel Washington was absolutely amazing in the part. I’ve only seen him play good roles in the past, so it was a bit different for me seeing him as a drug lord. He pulled it off though and made the character very believable and even showed off some likable traits at times as well. I won’t be surprised if Washington receives more nominations for his acting in this.
Richie had his own sense of honor. According to his ex-wife, he’d cheated on her and lied about certain things, but when it came to work, he was so honest he turned in a fortune in unmarked bills. Richie was devoted to bringing down the high level drug lords and corrupt cops who allowed and even encouraged the drug trade to keep going. Russell Crowe was great in his part as well. He made Richie a believable, realistic character with some flaws. I wouldn’t be surprised if Crowe received some nominations as well.
None of the other characters were as developed as Frank and Richie. All of Frank’s brothers were at least briefly shown once they joined him in the business. Josh Brolin did a really good job with his part as Detective Trupo, a cop that came into contact with both Richie and Frank. Cuba Gooding Jr. was also good in the few scenes he had as Nicky Barnes, another drug dealer who was a rival of Frank. Eva turned up fairly often without being developed much. I was never sure exactly how much she knew about Frank’s business. Armand Assantee also turned up in a few scenes as a man that Frank worked with.
Main Cast
Armand Assantee - Dominic Cattano
Josh Brolin - Detective Trupo
Russell Crowe - Richie Roberts
Chiwetel Ejiofor - Huey Lucas
Cuba Gooding Jr. - Nicky Barnes
Lymari Nadal - Eva
Denzel Washington - Frank Lucas
Ridley Scott - Director
American Gangster was one of the best movies I’ve seen this year. It is definitely worth seeing even though the subject matter may not appeal to everyone. Fans of Russell Crowe or Denzel Washington really should see the movie for their amazing performances.
This review is part of CaptainD’s Good Movies Write Off.
Denzel Washington Movie Reviews
Deja Vu ~ Inside Man ~ Man on Fire ~ The Manchurian Candidate ~ Out of Time ~
Recommended:
Yes
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